MUMBAI, India, Nov. 4, 2025 — Firstsource Solutions Limited (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809), a leading global provider of business process management services and an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, today announced a strategic investment in Lyzr.ai, a cutting-edge enterprise AI agent infrastructure platform that enables organizations to build secure, reliable, and interconnected AI agents anchored by comprehensive knowledge bases, orchestration, and robust responsible AI governance.

This investment marks a significant milestone in advancing Firstsource’s UnBPO™ vision – a bold reimagination of how work gets done by seamlessly blending human ingenuity with enterprise-grade, responsible AI. UnBPO™ embodies a transformative shift from traditional outsourcing and labor arbitrage toward technology arbitrage that enables organizations to become more adaptive, intelligent, and purpose driven.

Dr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman of RPSG Group and Firstsource, said, “Our partnership with Lyzr.ai is deeply aligned with Firstsource’s UnBPO™ approach, accelerating the creation of future-ready organizations through secure, scalable AI agents designed for complex, regulated environments. As AI moves decisively from experimentation into production, success will belong to those who marry technological depth with responsible governance and clear business outcomes. Lyzr.ai exemplifies this balance — pioneering intelligent automation that amplifies human capability while upholding enterprise readiness and trust.”

Siva Surendira, CEO of Lyzr.ai shared, “Firstsource has long been a pioneer in automating complex processes for the world’s most regulated industries. Their deep expertise in banking and healthcare directly reflects why we built Lyzr: to provide a 100% private, full-stack agent infrastructure that enterprises can trust with their most critical data. This strategic partnership is a massive accelerant for our shared vision. Together, we will empower Fortune 500s to securely move AI from experimentation to production, reinventing their operations and building their central OGI – Organizational General Intelligence.”

Lyzr.ai’s agent infrastructure is already driving impactful use cases across diverse industries, including customer experience, healthcare claims negotiation, banking KYC, IT ticketing, and legal contract intelligence. These align directly with Firstsource’s commitment to building practical, human-centered AI that generates real-world, measurable impact.

By embedding Lyzr.ai’s agentic AI into its core operating model through UnBPO™, Firstsource is advancing outcome-driven, secure, and compliant automation of mission-critical, high-touch processes. The partnership embodies Firstsource’s role as an orchestrator of ecosystem innovation, where responsible AI augments decision-making and fuels business transformation that is scalable, transparent, and sustainable.

About Firstsource

Firstsource Solutions Limited, an RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company (NSE: FSL) (BSE: 532809) (Reuters: FISO.BO) (Bloomberg: FSOL:IN), is a global leader providing business process solutions and services spanning the customer lifecycle across Healthcare, Banking and Financial Services, Communications, Media and Technology, Retail, and other diverse industries. With a global footprint across US, UK, India, Philippines, Mexico, Romania, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, and Australia, they ‘make it happen’ for their clients, solving their biggest challenges with hyper-focused, domain-centered teams and cutting-edge tech, data, and analytics. Firstsource’s inch-wide, mile-deep practitioners work collaboratively, leveraging UnBPO™ – their differentiated approach to reimagining traditional outsourcing – to deliver real-world, future-focused solutions that drive speed, scale, and smarter decision, turning transformation into tangible results for clients. (www.firstsource.com)

About Lyzr.ai

Lyzr.ai is the full-stack agent infrastructure platform that enables enterprises to build, govern, and deploy a secure, autonomous AI workforce. Lyzr provides the “Third Way” for enterprise AI, combining the flexibility of open-source with the security of a managed platform, all within the customer’s own environment to ensure 100% data privacy and IP ownership.

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SOURCE Firstsource

MISSOULA, Mont., Nov. 3, 2025 — onX, a pioneer in digital outdoor navigation and mapping software, today announced a strategic investment from TCV, a leading growth equity firm known for supporting enduring consumer technology brands. The partnership brings additional operational expertise and long-term support as onX continues to scale its suite of adventure-specific navigation apps and redefine the outdoor experience. The company’s existing investors, including Summit Partners, Madison Valley Partners, and onX founder Eric Siegfried, will remain active board members.

Founded in 2009, onX develops mapping and navigation technology that is trusted by millions of hunters, off-roaders, hikers, anglers, backcountry skiers, and more. With a mission to “awaken the adventurer in everyone,” onX has developed invaluable tools for outdoor exploration, offering adventure-specific features and detail-rich terrain visualizations that guide users every step of the way. 

“At onX, we are constantly reimagining how people experience the outdoors as we expand into new verticals, introduce innovative products, and invest in the team and technology that fuel our growth,” said onX CEO Laura Orvidas. “Over the last three years, onX has nearly tripled its ARR and become the most trusted digital guide for adventurers nationwide. Partnering with TCV and drawing on their experience scaling iconic tech companies like Netflix, Strava, and Spotify will help accelerate our momentum as we continue to deliver more meaningful and immersive experiences.”

In addition to TCV, onX welcomes Cross Creek as a new investor supporting the company’s mission and continued expansion in the outdoor technology industry.

For more than a decade, onX has been a leader in the outdoor navigation space, creating products designed to empower recreationists to explore and steward new landscapes. In recent years, the company has launched the industry’s first cellular trail camera integration providing hunters with real-time glimpses of the woods right in their app; simplified terrain risk visualizations for backcountry skiers with the nation’s first Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale; earned recognition from TIME’s Best Inventions for its innovative Recent Imagery feature showing satellite imagery that updates at two week intervals; and delivered a first-of-its-kind map of Dispersed Camping opportunities, making it easier than ever to find under-the-radar places to spend the night. onX has also built proprietary navigation tools like Route Builder, which helps adventurers chart custom paths across remote terrain, and redefined how anglers discover and plan their days on the water with the launch of onX Fish.

“I have been using onX for years, primarily to hunt public lands and backcountry ski across the western U.S.,” said TCV General Partner and new onX Board Member Woody Marshall. “I’ve experienced firsthand how indispensable their product is and how it fuels a deeper connection to the outdoors. The onX team is tuned into their customers’ needs, and each tool is built to solve real outdoor challenges. As a result, they’re on an impressive growth trajectory, and TCV is excited to partner with them for this next phase of innovation and expansion.”

“Since Summit’s investment in 2018, we’ve had a front-row seat to onX’s evolution from a category pioneer to a market-defining brand in outdoor technology,” said Summit Partners Managing Director and onX Board Member Colin Mistele. “We’ve been continually impressed by the team’s customer focus, commitment to innovation, and impressive, profitable growth. We’re proud to continue our partnership and excited to welcome TCV as onX builds on this momentum and takes on its next adventure.”

About onX
Founded in 2009, onX is a pioneer in digital outdoor navigation, developing software that helps inform, inspire, and empower outdoor recreationists. onX Hunt, onX Offroad, onX Backcountry, and onX Fish make up the company’s suite of apps and are built by explorers for explorers. Because off-the-beaten-path experiences are at the heart of what onX does, the company also leads initiatives to protect and expand access to public land. Since 2018, onX has worked with various partners to secure and improve public land access through direct funding and by supporting key legislation with data analysis and research. Learn more.

About TCV
TCV is a leading investment firm focused on investing in global, category-defining, technology companies. Leveraging its deep industry expertise and strategic resources, TCV’s mission is to provide long-term capital and support to high-quality management teams across their growth journey. Since its founding in 1995, TCV has invested ~$20 billion in more than 350 technology companies worldwide and has supported over 150 IPOs and strategic acquisitions, making it one of the most active technology investors. TCV has a global presence in Menlo Park, New York, and London. For more information on TCV and its investments, visit www.tcv.com

About Summit Partners
Summit Partners is a leading growth-focused investment firm. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and, since the firm’s founding in 1984, has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. These companies have completed more than 175 public equity offerings, and more than 250 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and seeks to invest in category-leading, profitable growth companies worldwide. For more information, please visit www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

SOURCE onX

Summer of St. Jude campaign supports the fight against childhood cancer

FORT WAYNE, Ind., Nov. 3, 2025 — Master Spas, a leading manufacturer of premium hot tubs and swim spas, is proud to announce that its Summer of St. Jude campaign raised $310,000, surpassing its original goal of $250,000.

The three-month campaign ran from July through September and culminated with Master Spas’ annual Global Sales Event. Participating dealers across the United States generated donations benefitting St. Jude through a wide variety of local fundraising efforts, coming together to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

“At Master Spas, our mission is to help people live life better,” said Kevin Richards, President of Master Spas. “We’re incredibly proud of what our dealers and employees accomplished together. The Summer of St. Jude campaign was a reflection of our shared values and commitment to giving back.”

Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, allowing them to focus on helping their children live. Since opening in 1962, St. Jude has helped raise the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent and continues working toward its goal of curing childhood cancer worldwide.

“This remarkable fundraising milestone by Master Spas to support the lifesaving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is truly inspiring,” said Steve Froehlich, Chief Revenue Officer of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “Because of generous donations from partners like Master Spas, St. Jude can continue to provide world-class care to children facing cancer and other life-threatening diseases here in the U.S. and around the world, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.”

The Summer of St. Jude campaign is part of Master Spas Cares, the company’s charitable giving initiative that supports nonprofit organizations and community programs.

For more information, visit www.MasterSpas.com/cares.

About Master Spas

Master Spas is based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Operating out of a state-of-the-art, 614,000-square-foot manufacturing facility on a 45-acre campus, Master Spas is the largest swim spa manufacturer in the world and the largest hot tub manufacturer that builds 100% of its spas in the USA using both domestic and foreign components. The company’s executive team brings together more than 150 years of spa manufacturing experience and has one of the strongest track records in the industry. For more information, visit www.MasterSpas.com

SOURCE MASTER SPAS

Bridge SAFE closed in one week for Apollo-1, AUI’s neuro-symbolic conversational AI foundation model.

NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 2025 — AUI (Augmented Intelligence Inc.), the company behind Apollo-1, the world’s first neuro-symbolic foundation model for task-oriented conversational AI, has raised $20 million at a $750 million valuation cap, bringing total funding to nearly $60 million to date.

The round included participation from eGateway Ventures, existing shareholders, an investor group from New Era Capital Partners, and strategic partners. In September 2024, AUI disclosed $10 million at a $350 million valuation cap. At that time, the company announced a strategic go-to-market partnership with Google.

Developed over eight years by founders Ohad Elhelo and Ori Cohen, Apollo-1 introduces a new computational architecture that fuses neural and symbolic reasoning to guarantee deterministic, policy-compliant, and fluent task execution, addressing what many describe as the “missing half of conversational AI.“

While open-ended dialogue powered by large language models (LLMs) has dominated recent years, task-oriented conversations that lead to real-world actions such as bookings,    payments, cancellations, and registrations remain largely unsolved.

“There’s a reason everyone knows the names ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini,” said Ohad Elhelo, co-founder and CEO of AUI. “But there’s still almost no example of a major enterprise successfully deploying reliable conversational agents at scale. LLM-based agents work well in open dialogue, but they’re not reliable enough for serious task-oriented deployments.”

Unlike conventional deep-learning approaches that depend on extensive pre-training to approximate behavior, neuro-symbolic foundation models like Apollo-1 encode procedural knowledge directly while using neural modules for perception, language understanding, and generation.

“LLM-based open-ended dialogue represents the B2C framework of conversational AI, while neuro-symbolic task-oriented dialogue ushers in the B2B era, where reliability, determinism, and policy adherence matter as much as fluency,” said Gideon Argov, a Managing Partner of New Era Capital, one of the company’s earliest backers.

Apollo-1 is designed not to function as an agent itself, but to enable any organization to build its own domain-specific, policy-adhering conversational agents.

“I have seen some of today’s top AI leaders walk away with their heads spinning after interacting with Apollo-1,” said Chris Varelas, co-founder of private-equity firm Redwood Capital, an early investor in AUI and advisor to the CEO. “This was a small bridge financing that came together in under a week, ahead of major announcements planned for later this year.”

Apollo-1 is already deployed within Fortune 500 organizations. General availability will be announced separately following current enterprise deployments. The company was founded in 2017, employs 45 people, and counts among its early backers Vertex Pharmaceuticals founder Joshua Boger, UKG Chairman Aron Ain, and former IBM President Jim Whitehurst.

About AUI (Augmented Intelligence Inc.)

AUI builds neuro-symbolic foundation models for task-oriented conversational AI. Apollo-1 enables developers and enterprises to design policy-adhering agents that execute complex procedures with reliability, transparency, and control.

AUI is hiring for a number of positions that can be found at AUI.io.

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SOURCE Augmented Intelligence (AUI) Inc

Deals leveraged $86.9 million in outside capital in the first quarter of the fiscal year

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Nov. 3, 2025 — Connecticut Innovations (CI), Connecticut’s strategic venture capital arm, today announced that it invested approximately $11.3 million in 25 companies and venture funds during the first quarter of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 2025. CI’s investments leveraged $86.9 million in outside capital and generated $7.0 million in proceeds during the quarter.

CI invested approximately $1.5 million in climate tech companies over the quarter, and another $2.2 million in venture funds. More than half of the quarter’s investment dollars, $6.9 million, were invested in the healthcare sector. The remaining investments were in consumer and technology companies.

“With the launch of our new $50 million AI/Q Fund, CI is doubling down on the technologies shaping the future,” said Matt Storeygard, senior managing director of investments. “Bexorg, one of our largest healthcare investments this quarter and a new addition to the AI/Q Fund, shows how AI can drive real-world change in biosciences by combining artificial intelligence with a whole-human brain perfusion platform to accelerate breakthroughs in brain health.”

“CI began the new fiscal year with steady deal activity and strong participation across key sectors like healthcare, climate tech and AI,” said Peter Longo, senior managing director of investments. “It’s a promising start to the year and reflects the continued demand for capital among Connecticut’s growing companies.”

About Connecticut Innovations
Connecticut Innovations (CI) is Connecticut’s strategic venture capital arm and is the leading source of financing and ongoing support for innovative, growing companies. By offering equity and debt investments, strategic guidance and introductions to valuable partners, we help promising businesses thrive. For more information, please visit http://www.ctinnovations.com.

Media Contact
Lauren Carmody
Connecticut Innovations
860.258.7829
[email protected]

SOURCE Connecticut Innovations

Patient Conversation Intelligence Converts Healthcare’s Largest Patient Engagement Blind Spot into Action and Immediate Interventions

NEW YORK and TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 3, 2025 — Popai Health, the Patient Conversation Intelligence company that transforms patient conversations into action, announced today that it has raised $11 million in funding led by Team8, NEA and additional strategic investors. The funding will strengthen Popai’s go-to-market efforts, drive faster adoption across health systems, medical groups, health plans, and ACOs, and enable the team to scale with increasing market demand.

Popai revolutionizes care coordination by leveraging Voice AI to eliminate healthcare’s largest patient engagement blind spot – the 65% of patient interactions that happen during phone calls. Traditional care coordination systems capture only a fraction of the information exchanged during 15M daily patient calls, limiting visibility into key clinical, operational, and social insights. With Popai, care coordination calls become one of healthcare organizations’ most valuable strategic assets, optimizing how care coordination teams operate and deliver patient care.

“After deep evaluation of voice capabilities across our healthcare portfolio, we view Popai’s solution as incredibly differentiated, with a use case that extends beyond pure administration in enabling automated workflow actions for healthcare organizations,” said Blake Wu, Partner, NEA. “Popai’s platform is designed to not only meet the needs of today’s risk-bearing healthcare organizations, but also to adapt and grow with them. We believe this makes Popai a strong strategic partner both now and into the future, and we are thrilled to support the company’s seed financing and mission to transform care through Voice AI.”

Popai’s Patient Conversation Intelligence platform, which is already in use by Essen Healthcare and Clover Health among others, captures and analyzes patient phone conversations using healthcare-specific AI trained on medical terminology and clinical context. The platform automatically generates compliant documentation aligned with organizational guidelines, enhancing both quality and efficiency, with proven performance gains of 20% or more, while maintaining healthcare-grade security and full HIPAA compliance.

“At Essen Healthcare, we’ve always believed that innovation should serve our mission of caring for underserved communities,” said Sumir Sahgal, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Essen. “After more than 25 years serving New York City’s most vulnerable populations, I’ve learned that many critical insights often come from the conversations we have with our patients. Popai’s conversation intelligence platform aligns perfectly with our ‘We Care for That’ philosophy, by allowing our care coordinators to even further focus on what they do best: providing compassionate, high-quality care.”

Beyond documentation, Popai converts insights into immediate action through real-time workflow triggers that escalate critical issues to physicians, schedule appointments, close care gaps, and address medication adherence problems. At the population level, the platform surfaces risk patterns across thousands of calls, enabling healthcare organizations to shift from reactive to proactive care management.

“Phone conversations are the largest patient engagement channel, yet healthcare executives, accountable for population health outcomes, lack deep visibility into this channel,” said Assaf Mischari, Managing Partner at Team8. “Population health management has been limited by what’s documented in EHRs, but Popai enables organizations to see risk patterns emerging across millions of daily conversations, transforming patient interactions into their most valuable data assets while eliminating documentation burden. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with Popai’s founding team.” 

Eyal Gurion, Popai’s CEO and co-founder shares that sentiment, “One of the most sophisticated patient insight tools in healthcare has always been a conversation with a patient. We’re finally giving healthcare organizations the ability to capture and act on those conversations at scale with a powerful tool for proactive care. We’re not building another data platform but an action platform, and we’re incredibly excited about our partnership with Team8 and NEA.”

Popai was founded in 2024 by Eyal Gurion, CEO, Michael Latar, Chief Product Officer, and Elad Levy, Chief Technology Officer. For more information about Popai, please visit https://www.popai.health/.

About Popai Health
Popai Health is the Patient Conversation Intelligence company that transforms patient conversations into actions through Voice AI. The company helps health systems, medical groups, health plans, and ACOs eliminate their biggest blind spot in population health management by capturing and analyzing the 65% of patient engagement that happens over the phone but remains untapped. Powered by healthcare-trained Voice AI, Popai automatically documents 100% of patient conversations and triggers immediate action through real-time workflows, enabling healthcare organizations to identify and act on rising risk patients before they become costly realities. By converting patient conversations into precision insights while reducing administrative burden, Popai drives better clinical outcomes, improved patient experiences, and enhanced operational efficiencies. For more information, visit www.popai.health.

About NEA
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA)  is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. Founded in 1977, NEA has more than $28 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2025 and invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of investing includes 284 portfolio company IPOs and more than 500 mergers and acquisitions. For more information, please visit www.nea.com.

About Team8
Team8 is a venture group that builds and backs the most innovative technology companies in the fields of cybersecurity, data, fintech, and digital health. Team8 leverages deep domain expertise, cutting-edge technology, and firsthand company-building experience to partner with entrepreneurs in founding globally successful companies. The Team8 Health foundry partners with entrepreneurs and leverages deep data and tech tools to build category-leading health companies that will improve the quality of care and delivery of services across the healthcare industry. The foundry will utilize Team8’s unique company creation process to bring together an in-house team of domain experts and operators and a community of C-level executives and thought leaders in the healthcare space to de-risk company building and maximize the success of portfolio companies through technology, market fit, and talent acquisition. Founded in 2014, Team8 is backed by notable companies including Microsoft, Walmart, Cisco, Barclays, and Moody’s, among others. For further information, visit www.team8.vc.

SOURCE Popai Health

Investment from Rittenhouse Ventures and Tech Council Ventures Supports Company’s Mission to Help Enterprise Organizations Transform Accounts Payable Operations

HAMILTON, N.J., Nov. 3, 2025 — TranscendAP, Inc., a leading provider of accounts payable (AP) automation software, today announced that it has secured venture funding to scale operations and support the company’s aggressive growth strategy. The funding round was led by Rittenhouse Ventures and Tech Council Ventures, supporting TranscendAP’s mission to drive innovation across AP operations for enterprise organizations.

TranscendAP will utilize the investment to enhance its AI-driven technology platform, accelerate market penetration, and build on its recent momentum, which includes notable customer wins across the healthcare, manufacturing, and higher education markets. Clients include Aspen Surgical, Loomis, George Mason University, Kaiser Aluminum, Powell Industries, and Arizona Arthritis & Rheumatology Associates, demonstrating the flexibility and configurability of the TranscendAP platform and its ability to meet the unique needs of diverse AP departments.

“AP automation has moved from being a back-office necessity to a true strategic advantage,” said Jeff Weinstein, Co-Founder and CEO of TranscendAP. “Securing this venture funding is a major milestone for us, empowering our team to accelerate AI innovation, expand our platform, and continue transforming how organizations across industries manage their accounts payable. It’s especially rewarding to be backed by two venture firms with a proven track record and a team that I’ve had great success with before.”

As organizations increasingly look to apply AI to streamline financial operations, TranscendAP’s platform stands out for its intelligent data capture, workflow automation, and exception handling capabilities, helping enterprise AP teams reduce manual processing, improve visibility, and lower invoice processing costs.

“The accounts payable automation market is undergoing a crucial transformation, shifting rapidly from outdated, first-generation systems, with over 90% of the market still lacking effective AP automation,” said David Nevas, General Partner at Rittenhouse Ventures. “Their cloud-based, AI-first platform leverages best-in-class technology, providing critical value propositions like a 70% reduction in per-invoice costs and robust fraud detection capabilities. We believe the time to strike this market is now, and TranscendAP is perfectly positioned to capture significant share in the mid-market segment. The company has proven product-market fit with impressive customer wins and strong capital efficiency.”

This investment milestone not only validates TranscendAP’s approach to intelligent AP automation but also fuels the company’s ongoing initiative and commitment to help organizations worldwide achieve smarter, more efficient accounts payable operations.

“We’re excited to invest for the second time in a leader like Jeff Weinstein, who now has a best-in-class solution for automating the accounts payable workflow,” said Steve Socolof, Managing Partner at Tech Council Ventures. “Having worked with Jeff and his team in the past, we’ve seen firsthand their ability to execute, scale quickly, and deliver real enterprise value through innovation. We’re confident TranscendAP has the right leadership and technology to redefine AP automation for a broad range of organizations.”

For more information about TranscendAP’s accounts payable automation solutions or to schedule a demo, contact [email protected].

About Rittenhouse Ventures

Rittenhouse Ventures is an emerging-growth venture capital firm that partners with capital-efficient B2B SaaS, AI, and tech-enabled services companies. With a strategic focus on the Mid-Atlantic region and other underserved markets, Rittenhouse invests in companies generating $2M-$10M in revenue, typically into rounds of $5M or less. The firm is dedicated to providing deep operational support and unique network access, collaborating with exceptional management teams to foster sustainable growth and market leadership.

About Tech Council Ventures

Tech Council Ventures invests in the most promising early-stage, rapid-growth technology companies in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Fund typically initially invests $500,000 to $3M, with up to $4-5M to support the company’s growth. The general partners are active investors, typically (but not always) a Board Director and lead investor.

About TranscendAP

TranscendAP, Inc. provides a flexible and scalable AI-driven accounts payable (AP) automation platform capable of supporting the most complex workflows and processes. Since 2018, enterprise organizations in healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, and other sectors have entrusted TranscendAP to manage millions of invoices and billions of dollars annually. For more information, visit www.transcendap.com.

Media Contact:
Domenick Cilea
[email protected]

SOURCE TranscendAP

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 3, 2025 — Verde Resources Inc. (OTCQB: VRDR) (Verde), a road materials company offering proprietary, environmentally sustainable solutions, today announced that Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions, Inc. (“Ergon”), the largest liquid asphalt marketer in North America, has completed a $2 million strategic common stock and warrant investment in Verde.

This investment follows the 10-year exclusive licensing agreement signed by Verde and Ergon in October, granting Ergon rights to commercialize Verde’s emulsion-based carbon sequestering BioAsphalt™ technology across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. BioAsphalt™ enables the use of 100% recycled asphalt materials in cold-mix applications that eliminate burners, heat, and solvents—lowering costs, extending paving seasons, and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions is a subsidiary of Ergon, Inc., a diversified global organization engaged in multiple industries. The privately held Ergon is an industry pioneer in asphalt innovation and supply, employing more than 4,000 people as it serves customers and partners in over 100 countries worldwide.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Ergon as a strategic shareholder of Verde,” said Jack Wong, CEO of Verde Resources. “This investment strengthens our balance sheet and reinforces our shared vision and long-term commitment. We’re honored that Ergon recognizes Verde as a trusted partner in advancing large-scale decarbonization of the road construction industry through an innovative yet pragmatic approach. With Ergon’s deep expertise and extensive nationwide infrastructure, they are the ideal partner to scale BioAsphalt™ across North America.”

Recent independent testing by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) validated the performance of Verde’s next-generation BioAsphalt™—a 100% reclaimed asphalt pavement (known as RAP) cold mix enhanced with biochar. The results confirmed that the material not only meets but exceeds industry specifications, demonstrating strength, durability, and moisture resistance suitable for surface applications.

This milestone establishes a strong operational, technical and financial foundation for Verde’s commercialization efforts with Ergon, marking a pivotal step toward scalable, carbon-storing pavements that lower costs while decarbonizing road construction.

“Our partnership with Verde underscores Ergon’s commitment to leading the industry toward a more sustainable future,” said Patrick Nation, President of Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions. “Our investment reflects genuine enthusiasm to advance Verde’s proprietary technology and bring it to market. BioAsphalt™ provides a practical, scalable solution to decarbonize our sector without compromising quality or performance, and we’re proud to support Verde’s growth as both a commercial partner and strategic shareholder.”

Verde and Ergon have already hit the ground running, mobilizing joint teams and engaging major customers across Ergon’s network for large-scale projects. These initiatives aim to demonstrate BioAsphalt™ at full commercial scale, showcasing its superior performance, durability, and ease of installation, while generating verified carbon removal credits.

Biochar is fast emerging as a cornerstone of modern infrastructure, creating measurable value for taxpayers, contractors, producers, and Departments of Transportation alike by embedding reliable, traceable carbon removal directly into existing and new roads.

Today, 94% of US roads are paved with asphalt, a high performance but energy-intensive material produced and installed at high temperatures. Frontline workers face heat-related risks, communities endure frequent construction delays, and taxpayers bear the cost of deteriorating infrastructure and mounting environmental waste. Verde and Ergon are bringing practical, scalable solutions to address these long-standing challenges.

At a time when voluntary carbon markets face a credibility crisis, Verde and Ergon are proving that trust is earned through measurable results, not rhetoric. The solution is no longer theoretical; it’s right under our wheels. By integrating permanent carbon storage into materials society already consumes at massive scale, Verde and Ergon are redefining what sustainable road construction looks like: visible, verifiable, and built to last—with common-sense economics at its core.

Additional details regarding Ergon’s investment in Verde will be disclosed in a Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Verde Resources Inc.:

Verde Resources Inc. (OTCQB: VRDR) is an emerging leader in sustainable infrastructure, specializing in innovative and cost-effective solutions to help the industry seamlessly #TransitionToZero™. By integrating proprietary technologies with sustainable practices, Verde is at the forefront of creating low-carbon materials for infrastructure worldwide.

The company is driving transformation in a sector long overdue for change. Its approach reduces greenhouse gas emissions, sequesters carbon dioxide, optimizes the use of native soils and recycled materials, accelerates installation, and improves overall efficiency, all while lowering costs.

For more information, please visit https://www.verderesources.com

About Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions, Inc.:

Ergon Asphalt & Emulsions, Inc., a subsidiary of Ergon, Inc., is a leading provider of high-performance asphalt products and technologies. With decades of experience, Ergon specializes in delivering advanced emulsions, polymer modified asphalts, and other solutions that enhance pavement performance and sustainability. Through its state-of-the-art facilities and dedicated technical expertise, Ergon is committed to driving innovation in the asphalt industry.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release and statements of Verde’s and Ergon’s management made in connection with the matters addressed by this press release contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding Verde’s expectations, projections, and potential future developments. These statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed or implied. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “project,” “intend,” “seek,” “potential” or similar expressions. In this press release, forward looking statements include those related to (i) the anticipated benefits to Verde of the license agreement with Ergon and Ergon’s $2 million investment into Verde, (ii) the anticipated attributes and advantages of Verde’s products and (iii) Verde and Ergon’s future commercial plans in general. These and other statements are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release.

A non-exclusive list of risks and uncertainties that could cause the forward-looking statements herein to differ from future results include, without limitation: (i) the risk that Ergon will be unable to sell Verde-enabled products in the marketplace in sufficient volume so as to generate meaningful revenue for Verde, (ii) risks resulting from Verde’s dependence on Ergon as Verde’s exclusive North American distributor, and (iii) the risk that the commercial relationship between Verde and Ergon may face known or unknown challenges that result in material adverse effects on Verde. Other Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include those contained in the Verde’s filings with the SEC, which can be accessed here. 

Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained herein. Except as required by applicable law, Verde does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether because of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

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SOURCE Verde Resources Inc.

• AIP Secondary Fund II L.P., Aquilius’ second real estate secondaries flagship fund, closed on total capital commitments of over US$750 million. The fund was significantly oversubscribed at the hard cap, surpassing its original US$700 million target.
• The Firm raised US$1.1 billion in capital commitments for its second flagship fund and associated vehicles. The program attracted diverse global institutional investors, including leading sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.
• Aquilius seeks to capitalize on the region’s fast-growing, untapped real estate secondaries market, with the aim of building highly diversified, shorter duration portfolios across ‘new economy’ sectors at attractive, risk-adjusted return profiles.
• Founded in 2021 by ex-Partners Group and ex-Blackstone Asia private markets industry veterans Bastian Wolff and Christian Keiber, Aquilius has established itself as the largest real estate secondaries platform in Asia, with 30 on-the-ground professionals.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 3, 2025 — Aquilius Investment Partners (“Aquilius” or the “Firm”), a leading provider of secondaries solutions in the Asia Pacific region, completes fundraising of its second real estate secondaries flagship fund, AIP Secondary Fund II L.P. (“AIP SF II”).

AIP SF II was significantly oversubscribed at the hard cap and closed on over US$750 million in capital commitments, surpassing its original US$700 million target. In aggregate, the Firm has raised US$1.1 billion in capital commitments across its flagship fund and associated vehicles.

Aquilius’ Asia Pacific secondaries program attracted a wide range of global institutional investors, including leading sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, financial institutions, and family offices.

AIP SF II is Aquilius’ second real estate secondaries flagship fund targeting LP-led and GP-led transactions across Asia Pacific, with exposure to ‘new economy’ sectors supported by structural tailwinds including logistics, life sciences, data centers, hospitality and living. AIP SF II has already deployed approximately 50% of total commitments across eight secondaries transactions.

Bastian Wolff, Founding Partner at Aquilius, commented:  “We are actively capitalizing on a generational buying opportunity for secondaries in Asia. This milestone fundraise is a testament to our strong track record and highlights the continued and growing appetite for Asian real estate secondaries investments among LPs, as market volatility and the need for liquidity drives deal volume to record highs. It’s incredibly rewarding to see our Firm recognized and supported by such a broad and global group of high-profile institutional investors. We are deeply thankful for the trust of existing and new investors, whose partnership makes this milestone possible.”

Christian Keiber, Founding Partner at Aquilius, commented:  “The past 12 months marked a record-breaking year for secondaries volume. We are committed to being the leading provider of secondaries solutions in the Asia Pacific region — partnering with institutional investors and fund managers to deliver value through creative, efficient and scalable liquidity solutions while delivering compelling returns to our investors.”

ABOUT AQUILIUS 

Aquilius was founded in 2021 by Bastian Wolff (former Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific Real Estate for Partners Group) and Christian Keiber (former Managing Director for The Blackstone Group). Both Founders have invested in Asia for the past 15+ years, having collectively deployed over US$4 billion of equity across some of the region’s most complex LP-led and GP-led liquidity solutions, including LP interest transfers, single and multi-asset recapitalizations, strip sales, continuation vehicles, and structured equity.

Aquilius’ team consists of 30 dedicated professionals and collectively brings decades of experience in sourcing, investing and structuring secondaries transactions in the Asia Pacific region. Aquilius focuses on building long-term, scalable, and mutually beneficial partnerships with funds and their managers by providing customized liquidity solutions. The Firm’s independent nature and institutional backing enable Aquilius to transact with speed and certainty on a discreet and strictly friendly basis.

MEDIA CONTACT

Evelyn Tan, Partner, Aquilius Investment Partners
Email: [email protected]

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