Fast-growing venture capital firm hires data-driven executive to support portfolio companies’ growth

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 22, 2023 — Left Lane Capital, a global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in technology and internet companies, has appointed Chris Taylor as its Chief Growth Officer. With an impressive track record of exponential growth within companies, Taylor joins Left Lane’s Accelerate team and will play a pivotal role in adding strategic and operational value to portfolio companies as they scale.

With over 20 years of experience, Chris Taylor’s career blends marketing and strategy consulting. He started his career at Mars & Co before transitioning to marketing at E*TRADE. Since then, Taylor has led marketing teams at 1800Flowers, Automattic (WordPress.com), and most recently, SmartAsset, where he steered the company’s revenue to surpass $100 million.

“I am thrilled to join the team at Left Lane on this new journey,” said Chris. “Many of the growth challenges I’ve seen leading marketing at consumer and SMB brands are the same ones facing our portfolio of 65-plus companies. I’m excited to use this shared experience to support management teams as they scale post-investment.” Taylor will also help Left Lane in evaluating the marketing capabilities of potential investment targets.

Left Lane has been expanding its platform team, also referred to as “Accelerate”, to support its growing portfolio with value-add resources. Two additional key members are Erica Amatori, VP of Platform, and Alex Wu, VP of Talent. Erica Amatori has spearheaded Left Lane’s US and International Fast Growth Summits, which have had 500+ attendees and featured key functional leaders on panels around current growth topics. She has also established Dispatch, Left Lane’s private network for portfolio executives and organizes Left Lane’s CEO Summits. Alex Wu brings deep experience from True Search and VMG to lead executive placements and organizational structuring throughout Left Lane’s portfolio. As an example of the Accelerate team’s recent impact, Wu recruited and placed the US Managing Director for Left Lane portfolio company Blank Street Coffee, among many other hires.

Left Lane Capital’s team continues to grow since its founding in 2019. In 2023 alone, the team hired 27.5% of its current headcount. Notable hires in 2023 include Elizabeth Donovan in Investor Relations, Alice Inchauspé in Platform, Julia Knutson in Talent, and five new investors across the Brooklyn and London offices. Gomathi Ramalingam was also hired as Head of Data Engineering, underscoring Left Lane’s dedication toward leveraging data in its sourcing, underwriting, and portfolio support capacities. 

“Left Lane has a deep specialization in internet and technology companies with a consumer orientation, which allows us to leverage our collective expertise, resources, and domain-specific advisor network across our portfolio. Chris and the Accelerate team are primed to support portfolio companies in an ever-evolving market for growth,” said Harley Miller, CEO & Managing Partner at Left Lane Capital. 

About Left Lane Capital
Founded in 2019, Left Lane Capital is a New York-based global venture capital and growth equity firm investing in internet and technology companies with a consumer orientation. Left Lane’s mission is to partner with extraordinary entrepreneurs who create category-defining companies across growth sectors of the economy, including software, healthcare, e-commerce, consumer, fintech, edtech, and other industries. Today, Left Lane Capital has invested in more than 65 companies worldwide. Select investments include GoStudent, M1 Finance, Wayflyer, Bilt, Masterworks, Blank Street, Talkiatry, Tovala, and more. For more information, please visit: https://www.leftlane.com

Media Contact
[email protected]

SOURCE Left Lane

Michalski, an Amazon alum, and Fergus, ex-CEO of 4Catalyzer, will lead the company creation platform building AI applications in healthcare.

NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2023 — Ascertain, a healthcare AI company creation platform, today announced the formation of its leadership team with the appointment of CEO Mark Michalski, M.D. and Executive Chairman, Gregg Fergus. Michalski and Fergus will lead Ascertain in its mission to merge deep technical, operational, and clinical expertise to deliver high-quality, equitable, and affordable healthcare.

Michalski brings two decades of executive leadership experience to Ascertain. Prior to Ascertain, Michalski led strategic development for healthcare and life sciences at Amazon, was Founding Executive Director at Mass General Brigham/Harvard’s Center for Clinical Data Science, and served as President and CMO of two publicly traded companies – Butterfly Network and Hyperfine Research. He is a board-certified radiologist and completed his medical training at Yale and Stanford.

Fergus and Michalski met and collaborated closely at the venture studio 4Catalyzer where Fergus was CEO, launching several leading healthcare companies including Butterfly Network, Hyperfine Research, AI Therapeutics, and Quantum Si. Prior to joining 4Catalyzer, Fergus served as President and COO of the DNA sequencing company, Ion Torrent. Products from these market-leading companies have wide-ranging applications, including cancer research, medical imaging, and point-of-care diagnostics.

“Health systems are facing unrelenting financial pressures and an unprecedented workforce crisis. It is challenging to watch the impacts on my provider colleagues and their patients,” said Dr. Michalski. “I’ve seen what is possible when you bring best-in-field technologists together with deep clinical know-how. We have an opportunity to re-engineer the experience of healthcare, equitably, and for all patients.”

“When I started my career, scientists had just mapped the human genome, unlocking a new era of innovation in medicine. I expect AI will do even more to transform the healthcare system,” said Fergus. “We have a unique opportunity with Northwell Health to create innovative companies and solve the hard problems in healthcare. Now is the time to deliver the promise of AI and meaningfully impact the healthcare industry.”

Recent breakthroughs in generative AI and large language models have unprecedented potential to address the highly variable and manual tasks that dominate healthcare. These AI tools have the unique potential to automate the administrative tasks that plague providers and cause growing workforce burnout. Ascertain was launched by Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures to seize this opportunity: the company’s partnership with Northwell Health provides deep access to the diverse insights and large datasets necessary to build, launch, and scale AI-enabled solutions.

“As our collaboration with Ascertain moves forward, we see tremendous opportunity to develop and implement AI solutions which improve operational efficiencies and ease the administrative burden placed on healthcare providers, giving them back precious time with their patients,” said Mark Solazzo, President of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Operating Officer of Northwell Health. “This is a pivotal moment in healthcare and we are excited to lead efforts to advance this work.”

“Ascertain will play a central role in the Aegis ecosystem, building the technology that enables more affordable and equitable systems of care,” said John Beadle, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Aegis Ventures. “Under Mark and Gregg’s leadership, we are more confident than ever that Ascertain will become the platform partner of choice for health systems as they move towards an AI-enabled future.”

This expansion of its leadership team is part of Ascertain’s ongoing efforts to build a world-class, interdisciplinary AI team to create and support its portfolio companies. Earlier this year, Ascertain announced a $12M seed funding round to launch Optain, an AI company that enables early identification and disease prevention through retinal imaging.

About Ascertain
Ascertain is a healthcare AI company creation platform, focused on merging deep technical and clinical expertise to deliver high-quality, equitable, and affordable healthcare. Launched by Northwell Holdings, the for-profit investment arm of Northwell Health, and Aegis Ventures, Ascertain brings Northwell’s deep clinical and operational expertise together with experienced technologists to solve healthcare’s most challenging problems. In 2023, Ascertain launched Optain, an AI-enabled preventive health company to noninvasively diagnose eye and systemic health conditions in real time. To learn more about Ascertain, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Aegis Ventures
Aegis Ventures is a next-generation startup studio that partners with entrepreneurs and industry leaders to originate, launch, and scale transformative companies. The Aegis platform brings together market-shaping ideas, permanent growth capital, and ambitious individuals driven to solve major societal problems. Aegis aims to build companies with the capacity for vast impact, with an initial focus on artificial intelligence and digital health. Within these verticals, Aegis targets the creation of companies that leverage technology to better optimize tradeoffs between quality, access, and cost, focusing on innovations that promote seamless continuity of care, patient empowerment, and better-informed clinical decision-making. To learn more about Aegis, visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Northwell Holdings
Northwell Holdings (“Holdings”), a fully owned, for-profit subsidiary of Northwell Health, creates value for the health system by investing in early-stage companies, establishing commercial joint ventures, cultivating internally-developed ideas and bringing them to market, and advancing data collaborations that drive innovation in patient care, health diagnostics, and deep technology. We invest in companies that are aligned with Northwell’s mission, promote better health outcomes, improve patient experience, and increase efficiencies in care delivery and services. Through strategic collaborations, Holdings leverages the health system’s robust enterprise data assets to develop AI-enabled solutions that address healthcare inequities. We combine Northwell Health’s clinical and healthcare business expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to bring concepts to life. Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare system. To learn more, visit us here and follow us on LinkedIn.

Press Contact:
Jill O’Brien
Ascertain and Aegis Ventures
[email protected]

Sandy Dell
Northwell Holdings
212-582-1185
sdell@northwell.edu

SOURCE Ascertain; Aegis Venture Partners LLC

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 22, 2023 — myElla, the world’s first autonomous Virtual Marketing Agent (VMA) for SMB’s, is thrilled to announce its recent achievement of the prestigious Stevie IBA Bronze Award in the “Tech Startup of the Year” category.

As a company committed to helping SMB’s accelerate growth through the power of AI, myElla empowers businesses with expert-level skills, at platform-level cost & speed, and this recognition stands as a testament to myElla’s dedication to innovation, excellence, and the outstanding collective performance of its team.

At its core, myElla is committed to reshaping the landscape of marketing with the power of AI. Anchored by its groundbreaking AI-Based Virtual Marketing Agent, myElla introduces a paradigm shift in the way businesses approach marketing strategy. By seamlessly handling critical aspects such as market research, content creation, trend analysis, and real-time insights, myElla serves as a catalyst for business growth.

“This award underscores our commitment to pushing the boundaries of generative AI,” commented Naama Manova-Twito, Co-Founder & CEO of myElla. “Our vision has always been to provide businesses with a revolutionary tool, as close as possible to having a skilled marketing manager on their team. This achievement fuels our determination to continually innovate and harness AI’s potential for the benefit of SMB’s.”

For small and medium-sized businesses, myElla plays a role that goes beyond technology — it becomes an invaluable asset. By delegating intricate marketing tasks to myElla, businesses can concentrate their efforts on core operations, leading to improved efficiency and better results. This approach reduces their dependency on costly marketing resources, while enhancing their confidence and skills in independently fostering business growth.

“Our commitment remains steadfast as we continue to redefine marketing through innovation,” added Naama Manova-Twito. “This recognition truly belongs to our incredible team, our valued clients, trusted partners, and forward-looking investors. As we celebrate this milestone, we are more motivated than ever to leverage technology for the betterment of businesses worldwide.”

For further insights into myElla and to try out the platform’s capabilities, please visit myElla.ai.

About myElla: myElla (aka: Marktrix), is a leading AI-Based Virtual Marketing Agent committed to empowering businesses through data-driven insights, content creation, and real-time marketing management. With an unwavering dedication to innovation, myElla continues to redefine the marketing landscape by harnessing the power of AI technology, on its mission to empower every business with great marketing to successfully grow.

Contact:
[email protected] 

SOURCE myElla

Investment Led by Two Sigma Ventures with Significant Participation from Outpost Ventures

ALAMEDA, Calif., Aug. 22, 2023 — Cerby, the comprehensive access management platform for nonstandard applications, today announced that the company has raised $17 million in Series A funding. Two Sigma Ventures led the round with significant participation from Outpost Ventures, an investment platform of Neuberger Berman. Participating investors include Ridge Ventures, Founders Fund, Bowery Capital, AV8, Salesforce Ventures, Tau Ventures, Okta Ventures, Incubate Fund, and Ben Johnson, co-founder of Obsidian Security and Carbon Black.

Cerby received significant inbound interest and preemptive terms sheets due to the unique risk they address in the identity and access management (IAM) market – nonstandard applications. These applications do not support common identity and security standards like APIs, Single Sign-on (SSO), and protocols for automating employee onboarding and offboarding from critical applications.

A recent study by the Ponemon Institute found that 52% of organizations have experienced a cybersecurity incident caused by their inability to secure nonstandard applications, posing an increasingly challenging risk in every business. This spotlights the growing need for a fully connected identity mesh that works for all applications: on-premises, OT, legacy, and cloud – not just those supporting standards.

“We’re honored and deeply grateful for the support from our customers and investors. Their dedication to Cerby is dwarfed only by our commitment to close the growing identity gap that is fueled by the decentralization of work and technology spending,” said Belsasar (Bel) Lepe, CEO and co-founder of Cerby. “Our platform is the only one that addresses nonstandard application risk across all deployment scenarios, including cloud, privately hosted, and on-premises. All of which are unsupported by traditional identity and security tools. Cerby’s patent-pending access orchestration engine is the first and only to make passwordless authentication an immediate reality for nonstandard applications.”

This latest round brings the company’s total funding to $32.5 million. The funds will be used to scale Cerby’s go-to-market efforts, including expanding sales and marketing efforts; accelerating innovation of Cerby’s access management solution for nonstandard applications; further building on customer momentum and industry research; continued investment in generative AI to enhance development speed and maintenance of integrations; and reinforcing international teams and customers with additional support.

Founded in 2020, Cerby has evolved from its inception with a focus on managing access to applications for marketing teams to expand its reach to sales, product, financial services, and healthcare applications, catering to public SaaS and privately hosted applications. The investment highlights Cerby’s need in the financial services sector, which is often heavily dependent on nonstandard applications. Recent achievements in addition to fundraising include the company becoming Okta partner-approved and filing two patents to advance its IP strategy.

“We are excited to be investing in the exceptional Cerby team. This financing round will help the company further expand its innovative, secure, and user-friendly platform to revolutionize how businesses manage and protect nonstandard and disconnected applications, and further capitalize on the strong momentum and growing interest from customers,” said Villi Iltchev, Partner at Two Sigma Ventures. “We look forward to supporting Cerby on their mission to transform how businesses secure and manage access to their critical business applications and infrastructure.”

“Companies that challenge the status quo are very attractive to us,” said David Dubick, Partner at Outpost Ventures. “Cerby stands at the forefront of a transformation in identity management for nonstandard applications, a domain often overlooked yet critically vital. We’re thrilled to partner with the passionate team at Cerby and confident in the tremendous impact they’re poised to make.”

About Cerby
Cerby provides identity teams with the only comprehensive access management platform for nonstandard applications. Harnessing the power of identity providers, Cerby removes the need for manual tools and compensating controls (like enterprise password managers) by automating everyday human security tasks based on single sign-on and lifecycle management cues from upstream identity providers. This allows Cerby to protect any application independent of standards support. Cerby’s patent-pending access orchestration engine is the first and only one to make passwordless authentication an immediate reality for nonstandard applications. Cerby saves time and money by automating manual tasks, like offboarding and 2FA enrollment, and providing IAM professionals with deep visibility and control of employee-onboarded applications. With Cerby, identity teams can extend access, minimize risk, and lower costs.

Since we released our offering in 2022, Cerby’s platform has enabled clients like L’Oréal, Fox, Colgate-Palmolive, Dentsu, and Televisa to detect nonstandard apps and guide business users to more secure alternatives, all while keeping everything under the umbrella of their identity provider. Visit us at Cerby.com and follow us on social at @CerbyHQ.

Media Contact:
Michelle Yusupov
Hi-Touch PR
443-857-9468
[email protected]

SOURCE Cerby

SINGAPORE, Aug. 21, 2023 — BingX, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange, is proud to announce a significant stride in its commitment to fostering innovation within the blockchain and Web3 ecosystem. Through its investment arm, Bing Ventures, BingX has strategically invested in Moonbox, a pioneering AI and Web3 startup.

Moonbox has a unique approach to reshaping the digital landscape. Licensed to use the intellectual property of most popular classic films of Stephen Chow, Moonbox is set to launch a series of generative AI-powered NFTs and applications inspired by the art and film by the end of 2023. It believes, with the addition of an AI interaction layer, NFTs will be more engaging, entertaining, and satisfying for users, which will ultimately lead to NFTs being used in more types of content creation such as films and short videos. With a plan to launch its AI-powered interaction platform, Moonbox aspires to become one of the world’s premier companies to develop immersive experiences for individuals.

This investment will further accelerate Moonbox’s product growth and advance its core technology, which leverages cutting-edge generative AI to fuel applications for the evolving Web3 and NFT ecosystem.

Founded in 2021, Bing Ventures stands as a beacon of innovation in the venture capital landscape. Focusing on supporting early-stage startups and entrepreneurs of Web3 and blockchain advancements, Bing Ventures boasts a team of industry veterans and experts with extensive experience in investing, incubating, developing, and promoting projects. With a research-driven, sector-agnostic value investing approach, Bing Ventures has built an impressive portfolio spanning DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, DAOs, infrastructure, and more.

“Moonbox’s fusion of AI and Web3 showcases a visionary convergence that leads us toward a future of limitless possibilities. As Bing Ventures aligns with this innovative force, we are excited to champion Moonbox’s journey, a journey that will undoubtedly catalyze the evolution of technology and its impact on society,” remarked Elvisco Carrington, PR and Communications Director of BingX.

BingX’s strategic investment in Moonbox signifies a strategic alignment between Bing Ventures and BingX, underlining their shared dedication to advancing the capabilities of the Web3 ecosystem. This investment showcases BingX’s proactive approach to identifying and supporting promising projects that have the potential to shape the future of technology. It also marks a significant step forward in the realm of blockchain innovations and underscores BingX’s commitment to driving the next wave of technological advancements.

About BingX

BingX is a leading crypto exchange that offers spot, derivatives, copy, and grid trading services to over 100 countries and regions worldwide with over 5 million users. BingX continues to connect users with expert traders and the platform in a safe and innovative way.

SOURCE BingX

Lion Energy and FNA Group are among investors as ABF aims to start producing LFP cells next year

AMERICAN FORK, Utah, Aug. 21, 2023 — American Battery Factory Inc. (ABF), an emerging battery manufacturer leading the development of the first network of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell gigafactories in the United States, today announced that it has raised significant development capital in Series A funding from investors, including a significant investment from Lion Energy. Results of the funding round mark a milestone to secure production equipment and security technology needed for the first development phase of its recently announced gigafactory in Tucson, Arizona.

Other investors in the Series A include hybrid manufacturing partner FNA Group as well as a battery-cell equipment manufacturing company.

“Our vision is to help the United States rapidly electrify, and energy storage is the only solution that makes this possible,” said Jim Ge, CEO of American Battery Factory. “The first major step on this journey will be the construction in Arizona of the largest U.S. gigafactory for producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells, with initial development funded by this Series A round. We anticipate delivering our first battery cells within the next 18 months.”

Investor Lion Energy, a developer and manufacturer of high-quality energy storage products for personal and commercial use, incubated ABF for 18 months before its unveiling to the public in March 2022. ABF entered into an offtake agreement with Lion Energy in May 2022 to deliver 18 GWh of LFP battery cells beginning with high-capacity prismatic cells offering 105 to 300 Ah outputs. These are designed for a range of Lion Energy solutions, including portable solar generators along with residential, commercial and utility grid-level lithium battery-based energy storage systems.

“We can’t move to an entirely green energy economy as a country and society without high-quality lithium batteries,” said Frank Davis, CEO of Lion Energy. “ABF and Lion Energy are dedicated to creating the pathway to 100% renewable energy. As one of the fastest-growing pack integrators, Lion Energy is pleased to participate in ABF’s Series A funding to help expedite its production of the safest, longest-lasting, most reliable and eco-friendly batteries currently available.”

Investor FNA Group is a state-of-the-art hybrid manufacturing partner that will provide its sophisticated technology to ABF’s battery cell production. Formed in 1988, FNA Group today is the market leader in pressure washers and one of the most vertically integrated power equipment manufacturers in the industry with a global presence across the United States, China, Italy and Australia. The company recently announced the move of critical component manufacturing to North America to field a more robust R&D team to innovate new and more efficient products.

“Our focus as a company is to bring our entire supply chain to North America and this is now possible through American Battery Factory,” said Gus Alexander, CEO of FNA Group. “Our global plan is to electrify all our next generation of products by utilizing ABF battery cells. We are proud to support the company in this round of funding to ensure a domestic supply chain for all.”

Keeping its commitment to a U.S.-made battery cell supply, ABF will work with FNA Group to build top-of-the-line automation products for its gigafactory. This will allow the company to create fully automated, fast assembly facilities utilizing robotic and AI technologies to drive down costs and increase production. Quality control through these strategic partnerships will also enable ABF to replicate the battery cell with consistent results.

ABOUT AMERICAN BATTERY FACTORY
American Battery Factory Inc., a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery cell manufacturer, is developing the first-ever network of safe LFP cell giga-factories in the United States. The company is dedicated to making energy independence and renewable energy a reality for the United States by creating a domestic battery supply chain. Along with creating domestic manufacturing jobs, ABF will play a crucial role in meeting federal and state government climate change initiatives and “Made-in-USA” national security requirements. For more information on American Battery Factory, please visit americanbatteryfactory.com.

ABOUT LION ENERGY
Lion Energy is a leading manufacturer of safe, silent and eco-friendly power solutions for everyday needs. The road to energy independence affects all aspects of life including how everyone lives and interacts with one another at home, at work or at play. Regardless of where they are on this path, Lion Energy has a U.S.-designed and engineered power solution that can be used indoors or outdoors. Leading the way with innovative Lithium energy smart storage technologies known as LionESS™ and through rigorous testing, Lion Energy provides the broadest and most innovative suite of energy storage solutions on the market today, from hand-held portable device charging to portable solar generators to home, commercial and industrial battery systems. For more information, visit lionenergy.com.

ABOUT FNA GROUP
FNA GROUP is a vertically integrated manufacturer of brand name and private label electric and gas pressure washers, pumps, hoses and replacement parts. The company sells worldwide to homeowners, commercial & industrial customers through retailers, dealers, distributors and online. Their major house brands include SIMPSON® and DELCO®. FNA GROUP also controls the brand names POWERWASHER®, TASKMASTER® and supplies products under the well-known brands DeWALT® and STANLEY®. FNA GROUP brands are sold across North America in major home-improvement retail chains as well as regional and international dealers and distributors. Visit fna-group.com to learn more.

SOURCE American Battery Factory

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 21, 2023 — Writerly AI, the Nashville-based pioneer in AI-powered writing tools, launches its latest innovation, EKOM, a first-of-its-kind digital asset creation and optimization engine, this week at eTail Boston. The preeminent tool is transforming the e-commerce landscape by automating the process of crafting brand specific, SEO-optimized product assets with dynamic updates, ensuring businesses stay ahead in today’s dynamic digital marketplace.

EKOM is a response to the primary need of a significant number of Writerly’s 600,000 users who use the platform for digital product detail generation. 

Jon Ricketts, the CEO of Writerly said, “We’re committed to leveraging natural language processing to build software that delivers real economic value for users. Products like EKOM exemplify this. Its automation and real-time data capabilities enhance workflows and customer experiences while unlocking new revenue opportunities. We aim to harness advanced technology to provide tangible benefits that make a significant difference for our customers.”

With the launch of EKOM, Writerly is also celebrating an oversubscribed initial fundraising round of $2 million. This investment will further fuel the development and expansion of EKOM, allowing the platform to accelerate its robust product roadmap of cutting-edge automated solutions. These solutions are designed to enhance sales and buyer acquisition channels for its e-commerce customers.

EKOM is much more than an SEO tool. It’s a comprehensive e-commerce optimization platform that automates the process of creating and optimizing product assets. With EKOM, businesses can focus on growth, while remaining secure in the knowledge that their product assets are being optimized for SEO automatically.

With EKOM, e-commerce businesses will see:

• Automation that scales: Easily import and export data directly to and from a CMS with powerful bulk-optimization.
• Always optimized with real-time SEO data: By partnering with leading SEO data sources, EKOM cross-references today’s marketplace search intent with CMS data to provide revenue-driving product assets.
• Intelligent recommendations to fuel growth: View traffic analytics and get the most helpful automations recommended in a customized EKOM dashboard.

For more information about EKOM or to schedule a walkthrough, visit https://www.ekom.ai/.

About Writerly AI

Writerly AI delivers productivity software that strikes the perfect balance between power and ease of use. Trusted by over 600,000 of the world’s most innovative organizations and creators, Writerly harnesses the capabilities of generative AI to drive improved business results through marketing automation.

Press Contact:
Bob Hutchins
[email protected]
(615)994-7696

SOURCE Writerly AI

Existing investor Tzvi Neta leads extended seed bringing his total investment to $4.5 million for SASE security connectivity subscription solution

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 21, 2023 — BBT.live, developer of the BeBroadband™ SaaS platform, an SD-WAN/SASE as a Service built for service providers, has extended its seed funding round to $8.4 million. BBT.live has a unique business model which decreases service provider sales cycles and customer acquisition costs. Tzvi Neta leads the round.

BeBroadband™ is an all-in-one secured cloud solution for service providers to deploy software-defined networking to their business customer clients. The solution includes Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) cyber security, connectivity, WAN optimization, and management and controls through a multi-tenant self-serve orchestration portal. All elements of the solution are part of a single subscription, including edge appliance hardware. Competing solutions are complicated and expensive to deploy, leaving many businesses without the network efficiency and security benefits of software-defined networking.

BeBroadband™ is fit for many use cases requiring secured connectivity, including branch connectivity, work from home, Remote Office Branch Office (ROBO), and the Internet of Things (IoT). Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a component of the solution and enables safe off-premises use of corporate software. Demand for this capability grew during and following the Covid-19 pandemic with the growth of work from home.

Tzvi Neta, owner and chairman of Automotive Equipment Group (AEV), leads the seed extension investment bringing his total investment in BBT.live to $4.5 million. Neta has a significant track record of successful investment in the Israeli tech ecosystem, including early stakes in some of the most famous startup nation success stories.

Founded in Tel Aviv in 2020, BBT.live has grown to 30 employees. BeBroadband™ is now commercially available and already deployed, following 2 years of work with design partners including the IDF and Cellcom with rapid expansion expected over the coming year.

The BBT.live team is led by CEO & Co-Founder Moshe Levinson and Chief Science Officer and Co-Founder David Hay of Hebrew University, currently on sabbatical at Princeton University. Dani Harari, the highly decorated former commander of the 8200 unit is an active board member, and former senior EY executive Oren Baron serves as strategic advisor.

Since the initial funding announcement in June of 2022, BBT.live has struck technology collaboration partnerships with Check Point and Rohde & Schwarz. They also have previously announced agreements with Advantech, Intel, and Nvidia.

“Every service provider that we enter discussions with tells us about the need for a simple solution that doesn’t require major integrations and no CapEx investment on their part,” said Moshe Levinson, CEO & Co-Founder of BBT.live. “With the faith of our investors, including Tzvi Neta, we are delivering on simplified, secured connectivity, including to customers previously unserved by our competitors.”

“This additional investment is a show of confidence not only in the prospects of the BBT.live team and technology, but also in the Israeli tech ecosystem that I have long been active in.” said Tzvi Neta. “I have no doubt that our tech sector will weather both the global economic storm and our internal challenges in Israel and see great success.”

About BBT.live:

BBT.live offers SD-WAN/SASE as a Service security and connectivity designed for service providers with the BeBroadband™ platform. The tech-agnostic solution fits use cases across multiple verticals. Partnerships with Checkpoint for cyber-security protection and Rohde & Schwarz for Deep Packet Inspection enable WAN Optimization; BeBroadband™ offers an all-in-one SASE solution for managing and controlling business networks.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2190139/AEV_Tzvi_Neta.jpg

For media inquiries or further information, please contact: 
David Weissmann 
AVP Sales & Marketing
[email protected]
+972587955088

SOURCE BBT.Live

Seed Capital from Forty51 Ventures to Advance Pipeline of Pan-PIM Kinase Inhibitors

BASEL, Switzerland, Aug. 21, 2023 — Mysthera Therapeutics AG, a company developing first-in-class, oral therapeutics to treat complex autoimmune diseases, launched today with $3.5 million seed capital from founding investor Forty51 Ventures. The capital will be used to advance its portfolio of pre-clinical stage, pan-PIM kinase inhibitors to uniquely modulate multi-lineage immune cell functions.

PIM kinases are gateway kinases in multiple immune cell lineages (including B and T effector cells) driving excessive inflammation. Elevated PIM kinase may further contribute to the formation and maintenance of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) which are associated with disease severity and progression.

Autoimmune diseases impact over 23 million in US alone. Despite recent progress and novel treatment options, significant unmet needs remain due to poor response rates and adverse safety profiles of currently available treatment medicines.

Mysthera’s founding management team and board of directors brings considerable experience, leadership and a successful track record across research and development.

“Leveraging our deep expertise in PIM kinase and immunology, we are pursuing a highly differentiated approach to tackle complex autoimmune diseases. We believe this will result in new treatments to change the lives of patients globally“, said Darren Cunningham, co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Mysthera Therapeutics.

“PIM inhibition most critically hits effector B and T cells at the site of inflammation and inhibits their activation” added Dr. Stefan Haak, co-Founder and SVP R&D at Mysthera Therapeutics. “Our approach is uniquely positioned to also silence the essential cross-talk between these cells, impeding the pathogenic TLS formation associated with more erosive disease.”

About Mysthera Therapeutics

Mysthera Therapeutics AG was founded in Basel, Switzerland by Forty51 Ventures in 2023. Pursuing a first-in-class therapeutic approach, Mysthera plans to reshape the treatment landscape for autoimmune disease. PIM kinase inhibition uniquely and selectively modulates immune cell function in multiple lineages associated with complex disease.  The company’s pipeline includes pre-clinical stage, PIM kinase inhibitors in-licensed from Inflection Biosciences Ltd. For more information, please visit www.mystheratx.com

About Forty51 Ventures

Forty51 Ventures is a Basel-based venture capital firm with its core strategy focused on company formation and early-stage investments in biotech with geographic emphasis on Switzerland, France and Germany. Forty51 Ventures leads and co-leads early financing rounds (Seed and Series A) of its growing portfolio which includes both academia and Pharma/Biotech spin-outs.

For further information contact:

Darren Cunningham, CEO, Mysthera Therapeutics AG
darren.cunningham@mystheratx.com

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2189163/Mysthera_Therapeutics_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Mysthera Therapeutics AG