Category Archives: Deals

oneworld alliance, airlines and Breakthrough Energy Ventures launch investment fund to advance and commercialize Sustainable Aviation Fuel technologies

Led by cornerstone investors Alaska Airlines, American Airlines; with IAG, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines from oneworld alliance, and Singapore Airlines as part of initial $150M fund close 

oneworld BEV Fund aims to identify, enable and scale lower carbon jet fuel of the future to support consumer demand, economic development, jobs and technology innovation

DALLAS/FORT WORTH, Texas, Sept. 17, 2025 — oneworld alliance and member airlines, in partnership with Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), today announced the launch of a new investment fund designed to address the limited availability and high cost of today’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). The fund, led by cornerstone investors Alaska Airlines and American Airlines, seeks to accelerate the global development of long-term aviation fuel solutions that are cost effective, scalable, and have lower emissions than conventional fuels.

The oneworld BEV Fund will:

  • invest in novel, next-generation Sustainable Aviation Fuel technologies
  • support the growth of alternative fuel markets to meet the long-term needs of the global aviation industry
  • create economic value for investors and regions around the world
  • drive technology innovation
  • develop a diverse and resilient SAF supply chain to meet future demand

“By investing in the SAF technologies of the future, American and our oneworld partners are making a business decision to accelerate the development of novel technologies with the potential to reach larger scale at lower prices than current technologies can achieve,” said Robert Isom, chief executive officer of American Airlines and chairman of oneworld. “We believe reducing the emissions from our operation meets the demands of our customers, will make our business more competitive, and will enable us to continue to deliver the enormous economic benefits of commercial aviation for generations to come.”

“Alaska Airlines is excited to work alongside oneworld carriers to invest in innovative and cost-competitive SAF technology to drive the long-term energy transformation for our industry,” said Ben Minicucci, chief executive officer of Alaska Air Group. “In Breakthrough Energy Ventures, we have a partner with the scientific, technical and commercial expertise to make effective investment decisions that will create the market for next-generation fuels and power our industry in the years ahead.”

“Investing in SAF with Breakthrough Energy Ventures is part of oneworld’s strategy to create a future of aviation that solves problems at scale and serves the needs of the greater aviation community,” said Nat Pieper, chief executive officer of oneworld. “At oneworld, our member airlines are united in their long-term mission to address carbon emissions and invest in technologies that can improve speed to market of innovative fuels across the globe. By working together, we’ll be better positioned to create long-term solutions for the energy transformation of an industry that is vital to global economic growth.” 

BEV, Breakthrough Energy Venture’s capital fund founded by Bill Gates, will serve as the fund’s investment manager, bringing deep technical expertise, a rigorous diligence model, and extensive experience supporting the growth of early-stage climate technology companies. By leveraging its resources to support the energy transformation of one of the most challenging sectors for climate mitigation, BEV aims to advance fuel technologies that offer the greatest potential for tackling the sector’s emissions and securing long-term commercial success.

“Sustainable Aviation Fuel is essential to addressing the sector’s environmental impact and represents a major commercial opportunity,” said Eric Toone, chief technology officer at Breakthrough Energy and managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “The oneworld BEV Fund is built to identify and scale breakthrough SAF technologies that can deliver real emissions reductions for jet fuel, compete with fossil-based fuels on cost, and integrate seamlessly with today’s aviation infrastructure. These are complex systems-level challenges that will take time to solve, and the fund is built with the long-term vision and staying power to help bring solutions to market.”

The fund is also supported by oneworld alliance member airlines International Airlines Group (IAG), Cathay Pacific, and Japan Airlines. Recognizing the power of collective action, oneworld and Breakthrough Energy Ventures made an early decision to welcome non-alliance investors, including Singapore Airlines, which shares the alliance’s commitment to accelerating industry-wide progress in SAF.

“Sustainable Aviation Fuel is the most viable pathway for the aviation industry to progress to reach net zero. With our oneworld partners we have actively supported collective efforts on sustainability and today’s announcement further highlights the potential of collaboration, demonstrating how leading airlines can come together with the goal to accelerate action. To unlock SAF’s full potential, we are calling for supportive policy frameworks that help attract investment and enable the infrastructure needed to kickstart production.”
     –  Mr. Luis Gallego, chief executive officer, IAG

“As an airline with significant long-haul operations, scaling innovation to make SAF more accessible and cost-competitive is critical to Cathay Pacific’s future. This investment reflects our belief that only through collective action – across geographies and industries – can we build a resilient and scalable SAF ecosystem that delivers meaningful environmental progress and supports the future of our industry. And with Asia continuing to play a pivotal role in the global SAF ecosystem, we’re proud to help lead this momentum from the region.”
     –  Mr. Ronald Lam, chief executive officer, Cathay Group

“Relationships and connections with countries and regions around the world through air transportation are necessary for an island nation like Japan, thus we believe we have a mission to tackle the environmental impact of air transportation. Working towards this common mission for oneworld, we look forward to promoting technology and the use of SAF together with the member airlines, anticipating expansion into the Asian region in the future.”
     –  Ms. TOTTORI Mitsuko, president and representative director, Group CEO, Japan Airlines

“Our investment in this fund demonstrates Singapore Airlines’ strong support for developing and commercialising next generation Sustainable Aviation Fuels. Reducing the carbon emissions of jet fuel demands collective action across the entire aviation ecosystem, and such initiatives will drive innovation towards meaningful progress in this crucial energy transformation.”
     –  Ms. Lee Wen Fen, chief sustainability officer, Singapore Airlines

The global aviation industry, which generates some $4.1 trillion in economic activity and supports 86.5 million jobs, currently accounts for approximately 2-3% of global carbon dioxide emissions, in addition to other environmental impacts. Airlines and manufacturers continue to invest in modern aircraft, engines and operational efficiencies. Demand for air travel is expected to rise in the coming decades, and SAF, which today can reduce lifecycle emissions of jet fuel by up to 80% compared to conventional jet fuel, is a crucial tool for mitigating the industry’s environmental impact. While SAF can significantly decrease the carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft engines, the first-generation SAF in production today has come with challenges. The SAF industry has not yet attracted the investment required to scale production at competitive prices in line with market needs, and lifecycle environmental impact is a concern. oneworld and its partners are focused on supporting new technologies that can scale the availability of cost-competitive SAF, while minimizing other environmental impacts.

About Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a purpose-built investment firm that partners with, launches, and scales global companies that are building an emissions-free global economy. We seek true breakthroughs and are committed to supporting these entrepreneurs and companies by bringing to bear a unique combination of technical, operational, market, and policy expertise. Backed by many of the world’s top business leaders, companies, and investors, Breakthrough Energy Ventures has raised more than $3.5 billion in committed capital and partnered with more than 110 groundbreaking companies. Breakthrough Energy Ventures is the venture capital arm of Breakthrough Energy, a global network of climate leaders committed to accelerating the world’s journey to a clean energy future. The organization funds breakthrough technologies, advocates for climate-smart policies, and mobilizes partners around the world to take effective action, accelerating progress at every stage. Visit Breakthrough Energy Ventures to learn more.

For media inquiries, please contact: Shahaley Bornstein 
[email protected] 
(469) 688-2211

About oneworld 

oneworld® is a global airline alliance bringing together 15 of the world’s leading airlines, who are committed to delivering the highest level of service and convenience to travellers. With a strong focus on innovative solutions, oneworld member airlines are working collectively to address their environmental impact and accelerate the adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. The alliance’s members serve nearly 1,000 destinations worldwide and include: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Oman Air, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian and SriLankan Airlines. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Chris Singley 
[email protected]
+1 (817) 308-1288

Chris D’Aloia – American Airlines
[email protected]
+1 (682) 473-0622

Alex Da Silva – Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines
[email protected]
+ 1 (808) 391-5728

SOURCE oneworld Management Company, Inc

DRUID AI Raises $31 Million Series C to Accelerate Agentic AI Platform Growth Under New CEO Joseph Kim

NEW YORK and LONDON and BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 17, 2025 — DRUID AI today announced it has secured $31 million in Series C financing to advance the global expansion of its enterprise-ready agentic AI platform under the leadership of its new CEO Joseph Kim. The strategic investment was led by Cipio Partners, with participation from TQ Ventures, Karma Ventures, Smedvig, and Hoxton Ventures.

“Customer success is what it’s all about, and delivering real business outcomes requires understanding companies’ pain points and introducing innovations that help those customers address their complex challenges”, mentioned Kim. Previously, Kim was CEO of Sumo Logic. He serves on the boards of directors of SmartBear and Andela. He was also a senior operating partner at Francisco Partners, CPTO at Citrix, SolarWinds, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and chief architect at GE.

Roland Dennert, managing partner at the premier global growth equity fund Cipio Partners, explained: “Our investment will help accelerate DRUID AI’s expansion into the U.S. and elsewhere, fuel further technological advancements, and strengthen its position as a global leader in enterprise AI solutions.”

The appointment of Kim as CEO and the new funding come on the heels of DRUID AI earning a Challenger spot in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Conversational AI Platforms for 2025. This is just the latest development validating the maturity of DRUID AI’s platform and its readiness to deliver business results in a market that is experiencing rapid advancement and adoption.

In 2024, DRUID AI grew ARR 2.7x year-over-year. Its award-winning platform has powered more than 1 billion conversations across thousands of agents. In addition, the DRUID AI global partner ecosystem has attracted industry giants Microsoft, Genpact, Cognizant, and Accenture.

DRUID AI is trusted by more than 300 global clients across banking, financial services, government, healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications. Leading organizations such as AXA Insurance, Carrefour, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia Southern University, Kmart Australia, Liberty Global Group, MatrixCare, National Health Service, and Orange Auchan have adopted DRUID AI to redefine the way they operate.

Powered by advanced agentic AI and driven by the DRUID Conductor, its core orchestration engine, the DRUID platform enables businesses to deploy AI agents and intelligent applications that streamline processes effortlessly, integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and efficiently fulfill complex requests. DRUID AI’s end-to-end platform delivers 98% first response accuracy.

To learn more, visit www.druidai.com.

Contact:
Raluca Rotaru

[email protected]

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2774339/DRUID_AI_CEO.jpg
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2774340/DRUID_AI_Logo.jpg

SOURCE DRUID AI

ARTHEx Biotech Upsizes Series B Financing Round to $87M to Advance Lead Program ATX-01 in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 and Expand Pipeline of Targeted RNA Medicines

        – Extension financing led by new investor Bpifrance, with renewed participation from all existing shareholders, AdBio Partners, CDTI Innovación, Columbus Venture Partners, European Innovation Council (EIC), Hadean Ventures, Invivo Partners and Sound Bioventures –       

– Proceeds to support further clinical development of lead program ATX-01 in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1, a unique therapy currently in Phase I-IIa, targeting miR23b –

– Funding to also advance a broader pipeline of targeted RNA medicines across areas of high unmet need in muscular, CNS, cardiac conditions –

VALENCIA, Spain, Sept. 17, 2025 — ARTHEx Biotech S.L., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing targeted RNA medicines for rare genetic neuromuscular disorders, today announced the successful closing of its upsized Series B financing with new investor Bpifrance, bringing the total size of the funding round to $87 million.

The Series B extension financing was led by Bpifrance, as part of both Large Venture and InnoBio investment strategies, and joined by all existing shareholders, including AdBio Partners, CDTI Innovación (through its Innvierte program), Columbus Venture Partners, European Innovation Council (EIC), Hadean Ventures, Invivo Partners and Sound Bioventures.

Proceeds from the financing will be used to further advance the global clinical development of ARTHEx’s lead program, ATX-01 for Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1), including the ongoing interventional Phase I/IIa ArthemiRTM study and the preparation for an open-label extension to support a registrational study.

ATX-01 is an anti-miR oligonucleotide designed to inhibit microRNA23b (miR-23b), which is a natural repressor of MBNL protein expression. In DM1 patients, loss of MBNL protein function is caused by (1), reduced expression of MBNL proteins due to miR-23b upregulation and (2) MBNL sequestration in toxic DMPK mRNA, which leads to a spliceopathy, and is the cause of symptomatology in DM1 patients.

By inhibiting miR-23b, ARTHEx has demonstrated that ATX-01 increases MBNL production and decreases foci formation and toxic DMPK mRNA. This highly differentiated dual mechanism of action leads to a significant increase of free MBNL, improving splicing abnormalities, and ultimately restoring function in animal models.

Laurent Higueret, Deputy Director at Bpifrance’s Large Venture Fund, stated: “We believe ATX-01 could be a game-changer for patients suffering from DM1 on the basis of novel science and impressive data generated so far. We are excited to partner with ARTHEx as the company reaches clinical proof-of-concept stage and look forward to supporting Frederic and team in their efforts to build a leading franchise of precision RNA medicines.”

Benoit Barteau, Investment Director at Bpifrance’s InnoBio funds, added: “The approach developed by ARTHEx for DM1 aiming at targeting miR-23b has demonstrated compelling in vitro and in vivo results.  The dual mechanism of action of ATX-01 offers real potential to be the best-in-class treatment for DM1.  In addition, the Company’s delivery platform enables uptake into multiple tissues affected by DM1, allowing ATX-01 to go beyond the muscle, treating the whole disease and not just the symptomatology. We are eager to see initial clinical data in 2026.”

Frédéric Legros, Chairman and CEO, commented, “This financing marks an important milestone for ARTHEx and underscores the strength of our approach in DM1 and our emerging delivery platform, with its potential to deliver nucleic acid-based therapies beyond muscle. We are well positioned to advance ATX-01 toward a registrational study for DM1, while continuing to expand our pipeline across areas of high unmet need in muscular, CNS, cardiac conditions.”

“Arthex has made significant progress over the past years, advancing both its science and its clinical program. All investors are very pleased to continue supporting the company, and we believe that reinforcing its position through this financing is an important step to enable the next phase of its development,” said Jose Mesa, Partner at Columbus Venture Partners, initial lead investor of the Series B.

About ATX-01 and the ArthemiR™ Study

ATX-01 is an oleic acid-conjugated antimiR oligonucleotide with preferential delivery to target tissues (muscle & brain) designed to inhibit microRNA 23b (miR-23b), which is a natural repressor of MBNL protein expression. In DM1 patients, loss of MBNL protein function caused by (1), reduced expression of MBNL protein due to miR-23b upregulation and (2) MBNL sequestration in toxic DMPK mRNA, lead to a spliceopathy, which is the cause of symptomatology in DM1 patients.

In human DM1 myoblast cell lines obtained from patients with a wide range of CTG repeat lengths, ATX-01 increased MBNL protein expression and significantly reduced toxic DMPK mRNA, correcting critical molecular defects such as spliceopathy.  

Beneficial effects were also seen in both the HSALR and DMSXL mouse models, demonstrating molecular and functional improvements.

The ArthemiR™ study is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind single (SAD) and multiple ascending dose (MAD) study evaluating ATX-01 in adults with DM1.

ATX-01 has received Orphan Drug Designation for ATX-01 in DM1 from the US FDA and European authorities, as well as Rare Pediatric Disease (RPD) Designation from the FDA. 

About ARTHEx Biotech

ARTHEx Biotech is a clinical-stage company developing targeted RNA medicines designed to precisely modulate gene expression. Its proprietary platform pairs selective oligonucleotides with tissue-specific delivery to reach skeletal muscle, heart, and brain. Its lead program, ATX-01, is in clinical evaluation for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), a rare neuromuscular disorder, in the Phase I/ IIa ArthemiR™ trial. Building on this foundation, ARTHEx is advancing a pipeline of therapies for additional areas of high unmet need across muscular, CNS, cardiac, and pulmonary diseases.

The Company headquarters are in Valencia, Spain.

For more information on ArthemiR™, please visit https://www.arthemir.com or https://clintrials.gov. For more information, please visit www.arthexbiotech.com and engage with us on LinkedIn.

About Bpifrance and its InnoBio and Large Venture funds

Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges (innovation, export).

InnoBio funds are investment funds dedicated to life sciences, managed by Bpifrance, which is also one of the LPs alongside pharmaceutical companies and institutional investors. These funds aim to invest in companies developing innovative products, close to or in early clinical development, with the objective of bringing them to clinical proof of concept. InnoBio funds take minority equity stake in companies and can lead or co-lead the investment rounds. 

Large Venture – the late-stage VC arm of Bpifrance – is a €2.5 billion fund dedicated to fast-growing, highly innovative startups looking to accelerate organic or external growth. Large Venture was incepted in 2013 with the mission to bring the most promising French technologies from the lab to the market, and ultimately to profitability. Large Venture invests in private and public companies across three main sectors: healthtech and life sciences, digital and greentech.

For more information, please visit:  www.bpifrance.com  – Follow us on X : @Bpifrance – @BpifrancePresse and LinkedIn.

Company Contact.                                                                                           

Investor and Media Contact

Frédéric Legros                                                                                                

Amy Conrad

Executive Chairman and CEO                                                                      

Juniper Point

[email protected]                                                                      

[email protected]

+33679495790

+1 858-366-3243



Bpifrance Contact


Sophie Santandrea


PR manager


[email protected]


+ 33 7 88 09 28 17


SOURCE ARTHEx Biotech

ENTOUCH Completes $50 million Funding Round

Investment Will Accelerate ENTOUCH’s Innovation and Drive Growth

RICHARDSON, Texas, Sept. 16, 2025 — ENTOUCH, a leader in energy management solutions for multisite operators, today announced the completion of a $50 million funding round led by Respida Capital.

The capital infusion follows another record-breaking year for ENTOUCH and will further accelerate the company’s product development and go-to-market efforts. ENTOUCH has experienced rapid growth, driven by its unrivaled ability to drive energy savings, operational efficiencies, and sustainability initiatives for multisite operators across retail, hospitality, banking, entertainment, fitness, healthcare, and senior living.

“We’re thrilled to be part of this exciting journey with ENTOUCH,” said James Zubok, Founder and Managing Member of Respida Capital. “We are very impressed by what ENTOUCH has accomplished to date. We look forward to working together to accelerate the ENTOUCH growth trajectory by developing new product offerings and expanding the client value proposition.”

“This is a tremendously validating and exciting opportunity for ENTOUCH,” said Jon Bolen, CEO of ENTOUCH. “Our team has worked so hard to build the best, most customer centric energy management company in the industry. Partnering with Respida Capital expands our horizons and will allow us to accelerate the impact of our solutions and deliver even more value to our customers. With Respida’s demonstrated expertise in the multisite space and a unified vision to digitize facilities management, I am confident we have dramatically improved our ability to drive measurable sustainability and operational excellence in the built environment.”

About ENTOUCH

Founded in Dallas, Texas, in 2008, ENTOUCH is the leader in energy management as a service and smart building technology. We create a path to a healthier planet by delivering sustainable solutions that reduce energy usage, drive profitability, and simplify facility management for multisite operators. Our turnkey solution digitally transforms and optimizes operations for multisite businesses. We are the only provider that owns our entire technology stack and can take over heterogeneous systems and manage them from a single cloud solution. We lead the industry in speed, deployment quality, and ENTOUCH 360 service has earned a 100% renewal rate.

https://entouchcontrols.com/

Contact:
Melissa Parsons
***@entouchcontrols.com

Photo(s):
https://www.prlog.org/13099687

Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE ENTOUCH

DJ Madout Named Lead Investor as .HipHop Launches “Testing the Waters” Campaign on Wefunder

POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Sept. 16, 2025 — The .HipHop domain registry (Dot Hip Hop, LLC), the official ICANN-accredited operator of the .HipHop top-level domain, proudly announces that DJ Madout has joined as Lead Investor in its upcoming equity crowdfunding campaign. This milestone coincides with the launch of .HipHop’s “Testing the Waters” phase on Wefunder, inviting the global Hip Hop community and investors to reserve their spot in this groundbreaking digital infrastructure.

DJ Madout, a cultural innovator and respected voice in the music industry, is known for his dedication to amplifying Hip Hop culture worldwide. By investing in .HipHop, DJ Madout is championing a unique opportunity for artists, DJs, producers, entrepreneurs, and fans to own a piece of the digital real estate that defines Hip Hop’s online identity.

“Hip Hop is more than music—it’s a movement, a culture, and a legacy,” said DJ Madout. “By supporting .HipHop, I’m ensuring the culture owns its digital foundation. This is an investment in the future of Hip Hop, for the community and ultimately by the community.”

The .HipHop team, led by a cultural entrepreneur and domain industry veterans with a combination of executive powers at a leading multi-billion dollar identity resolution company and roughly $600 million in lifetime domain sales, is on a mission to empower creators, fans and businesses with the most culturally aligned and brandable web address. Through Wefunder, supporters can reserve investments starting at just $250, helping shape the future of Hip Hop online.

Why .HipHop?

  • Cultural Ownership: Hip Hop DJs, artists and brands gain control over their online identities with domains like DJName.HipHop and ArtistName.HipHop.
  • Proven Leadership: Members of the founding team have decades of experience in domain sales, marketing, and internet governance.
  • High-Growth Potential: With close to 2 billion global Hip Hop fans, the .HipHop domain has significant untapped potential.

Get Involved
Reserve your investment during the “Testing the Waters” phase by visiting InvestIn.HipHop. Learn more at Get.HipHop

Disclaimer
We are “testing the waters” to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities can be accepted, and no part of the purchase price can be received, until a Form C is filed and only through Wefunder’s platform. Any indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. 

Contact: Scott Pruitt, [email protected], 602-435-4314
Website: investin.hiphop

SOURCE Dot Hip Hop, LLC

CeTu Recognized in Gartner® Market Guide for Telemetry Pipelines

Intelligent, real-time telemetry pipelines accelerate threat detection and incident response
while dramatically reducing SIEM ingestion costs and eliminating vendor lock-in

BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2025 — CeTu, the company reimagining SecOps data management for the agentic SOC, today announced that it has been recognized in the Gartner® Market Guide for Telemetry Pipelines for its agentless, no-code platform.

The latest recognition follows a pattern of recognition across multiple Gartner reports including the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Security Operations, 2025 (23 June) and the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for Monitoring and Observability, 2025 (22 July).

According to Gartner:

  • “The telemetry pipeline market is experiencing rapid evolution, driven by the increasing volume and complexity of operational data in modern IT environments.”
  • “Projections suggest that by 2027, 40% of all log telemetry will be processed through a telemetry pipeline product, a substantial increase from less than 20% in 2024.”
  • “While cost reduction is a primary driver, organizations will increasingly look to leverage the additional capabilities of telemetry pipelines, such as on-demand replay of recent data for testing or error correction, anomaly detection for early warnings, and complex in-pipeline analysis. The ability to generate events or alerts directly from the pipeline for immediate action will also gain importance.”

Cybersecurity has become a large-scale data management problem
Modern security operations are defined by the challenge of managing security-relevant data at scale. With data volumes accelerating across cloud, AI workloads, SaaS, identity, and other attack surfaces, blind spots and noise are increasing exponentially — creating new hiding spots for adversaries.

At the same time, reliance on traditional batch SIEM processing slows the detection of threats and delays alert enrichment. Inconsistent schemas and fragmented telemetry workflows also delay investigations and breach mitigation.

Real-time telemetry pipelines, powered by security-aware AI
CeTu helps enterprises intelligently ingest data at scale — improving visibility, detection, and response while dramatically lowering SIEM costs, complexity, and operational overhead. Key capabilities include:

  • Automation for the modern SOC: SOCs are evolving. Instead of dumping all security data into a single monolithic SIEM, organizations are reducing costs while gaining vendor independence by strategically distributing ingestion across SIEMs, data lakes, and low-cost object storage. CeTu powers this federated approach at scale with dynamic, policy-driven pipelines that automatically analyze, normalize, filter, enrich, and route data to its optimum destination.
  • SecOps-aware AI: Legacy pipeline tools are generic – not security-specific – and primarily focused on cost reduction. CeTu, by contrast, was designed from the ground up with purpose-built AI that recommends and automatically implements pipelines that strengthen your security posture, based on its deep contextual understanding of your existing security and IT infrastructure. Unique in the industry, this is achieved by continuously pulling information from the SIEM and other sources about all your assets and how your SOC actually uses data for detections and investigations.
  • Real-time pipeline analysis: The agentic SOC requires real-time analysis of high-fidelity telemetry data to be effective. CeTu addresses this by analyzing and transforming data streams in real-time for immediate actionability, before logs are even ingested by the SIEM. Examples include alerting on IOCs and anomalies; flagging blind spots, missing logs, and data integrity issues; enriching events with threat intelligence; and sensitive data masking.
  • Rapid time-to-value: Unlike legacy tools that rely on specialized personnel to manually identify and filter unnecessary data – often from non-standard, unstructured logs – CeTu’s visual interface and AI-driven analysis enable everyday engineers to use it without specialized coding or data science expertise, delivering time-to-value in days vs. months or years.

“We believe Gartner’s recognition highlights the innovation we’ve been delivering to modern SOCs from day one,” said Omer Schneider, CEO & Co-Founder of CeTu. “To us, it reinforces our mission to help enterprises ingest smarter, detect and respond faster, and reduce costs — while validating the critical role of intelligent telemetry pipelines in enabling SecOps teams to operate efficiently and effectively at massive scale.”

To learn more, visit CeTu.io or chat with us at upcoming conferences: CrowdStrike FalCon 25 (Sept. 15-18); Innovate Cybersecurity Summit (Oct. 5-7); FS-ISAC Fall Summit (Oct. 5-8); and regional GuidePoint events.

Gartner, Market Guide for Telemetry Pipelines, Andre Bridges, 2 September 2025.

GARTNER and HYPE CYCLE are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About CeTu
Smarter data management. Stronger security. Based on its deep contextual understanding of your security infrastructure, our agentless, no-code platform enables SecOps teams to effortlessly scale telemetry pipelines, boost real-time visibility and response, and optimize costs.

Founded by security experts from industry leaders such as Microsoft and Zerto, with backing from early-stage investors in security leaders such as Palo Alto, Zscaler, and Armis, CeTu is currently deployed in some of the world’s largest and most complex SOC environments. C’est tout! Learn more at CeTu.io.

Media Contact
Phil Neray, VP of Cyber Defense Strategy
[email protected]
781-330-3832

SOURCE CeTu

Plains Ventures Leads $1M Seed Round in Ordinal, Helping Municipalities Work Smarter with AI

OKLAHOMA CITY, Sept. 16, 2025 — Plains Ventures today announced it has led a $1 million seed round in Ordinal, an AI-powered research assistant built for local governments. The round also included participation from Winrock International and The Venture Center Arkansas Fund.

Founded by Jacob Herrington, Nick Spinazze, and Jacob Eubanks, Ordinal is transforming the way municipalities operate by providing instant, accurate answers from city documents, codes, and records. Using a secure retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) model, Ordinal grounds every response in verified sources, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance. With employees in some municipalities spending nearly 40% of their work week on information retrieval, Ordinal’s platform dramatically reduces wasted time, improves decision-making, and helps governments better serve residents.

Plains Ventures first connected with Ordinal during the 2025 VC Immersions event in Northwest Arkansas, hosted in partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Council. The team was immediately impressed by the product, the customer response, and the founders’ ambition.

“Ordinal’s product is intuitive and practical, which lowers the barrier to adoption in a sector where technology uptake is often slow, as evidenced by their exciting early traction,” Matt Hickman, Investment Principal at Plains Ventures, said. “With a smart go-to-market strategy, an ambitious founding team, and a technology that delivers immediate value, Ordinal is one of the most promising govtech companies in the country. We see this team making a positive impact on the way that government agencies serve their people, hopefully bringing back civic trust and shaping a more positive future.”

That perspective is echoed by Ordinal’s founders, who emphasize that Plains has gone beyond providing capital.

“Plains Ventures has been more than an investor; they’ve been a true partner,” said Jacob Herrington, co-founder of Ordinal. “From opening doors with potential customers to helping us refine our sales playbook, their support has made a measurable difference in how quickly we’re scaling.”

Ordinal has already deployed its solution in multiple municipalities, including Sallisaw, OK; Decatur, IN; Lowell, AR; Benton County, AR; La Quinta, CA; Pea Ridge, AR; and Willard, MO, with a rapidly growing pipeline. The company plans to use this funding round to expand its customer base, enhance its public-facing chatbot, and roll out additional features to further streamline civic operations.

About Plains Ventures
Plains Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage companies solving high-value problems. With a proven infrastructure of capital, experience, and network, Plains Ventures helps entrepreneurs succeed and delivers high risk-adjusted returns to its investment partners.

SOURCE Plains Ventures

MANTL Clients Raise Over $3 Billion in Deposits From Existing Banking Relationships in Six Months

This milestone underscores how financial institutions can unlock cost-effective, sustainable growth by deepening customer and member relationships with MANTL

PLANO, Texas, Sept. 16, 2025 — MANTL, an Alkami solution team and leading provider of loan and deposit account opening technology, today announced that its clients raised over $3B in deposits with existing banking relationships in the first half of 2025. This achievement highlights the significant opportunity financial institutions have to achieve low-cost, sustainable growth by strengthening customer and member relationships and driving banking primacy with omnichannel account opening technology.

In just six months, MANTL clients opened nearly 130,000 deposit accounts from existing customers and members, with an average funding amount exceeding $24,000. Notably, nine institutions generated more than $100 million in deposits each from existing account holders in the first half of 2025, demonstrating how banks and credit unions can leverage MANTL to activate existing banking relationships and drive sustainable growth at scale.

“MANTL clients are on track to raise more deposits in 2025 than any other year,” said Nathaniel Harley, co-founder and president of MANTL, and chief revenue officer at Alkami. “MANTL built its reputation as the industry’s most powerful growth engine by helping institutions raise hundreds of millions in net new deposits quickly and efficiently. However, in today’s highly competitive deposit environment, retaining deposits and expanding existing banking relationships are just as crucial as acquiring new customers and members. MANTL is redefining relationship banking, and helping financial institutions grow smarter, by giving banks and credit unions the technology and data-rich insights to transform existing account holders into deeper, more profitable relationships.”

MANTL Deposit Origination streamlines the process for existing banking customers and members to open new accounts in just a few clicks. Powered by real-time data and actionable insights, MANTL enables financial institutions to activate their banking relationships, increase lifetime value, and achieve a more cost-effective path to deposit growth than traditional acquisition strategies.

“MANTL enhances ConnectOne Bank’s ability to deliver a truly best-in-class relationship banking experience to our clients,” said Steve Primiano, chief corporate development officer at ConnectOne Bank. “Efficiency is core to our culture, and MANTL empowers us to stay both efficient and agile as we scale. MANTL supports our strategic growth as we expand into new geographies and markets, launch new verticals, and deepen existing customer relationships.”

MANTL is hosting an upcoming webinar, “Turning existing relationships into results: $3B in 6 months,” on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 1:00 p.m. CT. This webinar will feature ConnectOne Bank’s Steve Primiano and David Carlson, vice president of sales at MANTL, for a powerful discussion on how ConnectOne Bank is supercharging deposit growth by leveraging an omnichannel deposit strategy to activate its existing customer base. To hear firsthand from a MANTL client on best practices to deepen customer relationships, register here.

For more information about MANTL or to schedule a demo, click here.

About MANTL
MANTL is an Alkami solution team that offers unified account origination technology, empowering banks and credit unions to open loan and deposit accounts seamlessly on any banking channel in real time. MANTL Deposit Origination is among the fastest and most performant solutions on the market; consumers can open a new deposit account in under five minutes, businesses can open a new deposit account in under 10 minutes, and MANTL customers raise billions in core deposits. MANTL Loan Origination simplifies each step in the loan process, automating up to 100% of loan application decisions to ensure an intuitive, feature-rich experience from personal loans to business financing. Founded in 2016, MANTL was acquired in March 2025 by Alkami Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKT), a leading cloud-based digital banking solutions provider for financial institutions in the U.S. For more information, visit mantl.com or follow MANTL on LinkedIn.

Media Relations Contacts
Vested
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Marla Pieton
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SOURCE Alkami Technology, Inc.

Eve Security Raises $3 Million Seed Introduces Industry-First Agent-in-the-Loop along with Data and Intent Driven Policy Enforcement for Agentic AI Security

Eve Security’s combination of Agent-in-the-Loop and intent-based policy enforcement delivers the industry’s deepest observability and security for Agentic activity

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 16, 2025 — Eve Security today announced its $3 million seed round and the availability of EveGuard, an agentic AI observability and policy enforcement platform that ensures the security of AI agents interacting with a company’s most crucial business systems. The seed round is led by LiveOak Ventures with participation from Tau Ventures.

Eve Security’s EveGuard introduces the industry’s first Agent-in-the-Loop (AITL) – Eve. Eve detects anomalies, clusters requests, assesses risks and interrogates other agents so that CISOs and department heads don’t have to. While Human-in-the-Loop is garnering attention, an Agent-in-the-Loop that can quantify risk and assign tasks to agents and humans will dramatically impact the effectiveness of Agentic AI security. Eve Security’s AITL, Eve, can observe agents, agent interactions with each other, with humans and with critical business systems and take necessary action. Eve behaves predictably and consistently under the same conditions, allowing humans to oversee decisions with reliability and accountability, and follows predictable, rule-based logic that produces the same result every time when given the same input.

EveGuard also includes Intent- and Data-Based Policy Enforcement to address the challenges in English-language-based policies that create blind spots such as translation and cultural nuances. Eve Security’s platform is able to define and enforce policies that understand intent and data included in agentic requests. These new capabilities are not available in existing security products.

“Agentic AI is already inside the enterprise, whether CISOs and other leaders approve it or not. Shadow AI agents are making decisions, moving data, and creating vulnerabilities that today’s security tools simply can’t see. Right now, most security leaders are flying blind,” said Creighton Hicks, Partner at LiveOak Ventures. “Eve Security enables security teams to gain visibility and control over the known and unknown agentic AI running in their enterprise.”

“CISOs today are faced with both great opportunity and great responsibility,” said Nadav Cornberg, co-founder and CEO, Eve Security. “We help them to innovate with AI with confidence and trust that their organization’s crown jewels – the data and systems that matter most to their business – are protected. Our implementation and combination of observability, policy and AITL allows CISOs and department heads to trust the activity of their AI agents. Our support for API, MCP and A2A protocols allows us to go deeper than competitors to observe, detect and react to security concerns quickly.”

Moore’s Law, the principle that the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every two years, doesn’t account for AI. Based on collective industry reports, Agentic AI is doubling in capability and adoption every twelve months, compressing decades of digital transformation into just a few years. What was on the tip of everyone’s tongue less than a year ago is deployed in enterprises around the world. This provides both great promise and great risk for CISOs. Agentic AI and its pace of development has increased both the attack surface and attack type for security breaches. From “vibe-hacking,” as just reported by Anthropic, to data exfiltration, malicious actors are already exploiting the very autonomy that makes these systems so powerful. The risks are escalating faster than traditional security tools can adapt, creating a widening gap between innovation and protection. Eve Security combines the industry’s first AITL and intent-based policy enforcement to deliver the deepest observability of agentic AI activity with critical business systems. It also offers a frictionless deployment that delivers value and the safeguards enterprises urgently need to deploy and run AI agents with confidence – on day one.

“Eve Security is kind of like the security seatbelt for AI’s self-driving era,” said Chris Aniszczyk, Eve Security advisor, CTO at the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. “Everyone wants to go fast and keep pace with the rate of change. With its focus on business critical systems and its Agent-in-the-Loop method, Eve Security is the best way to do it.”

EveGuard includes: 

  • Agent-in-the-Loop (AITL): The Eve Security AITL, Eve, identifies anomalies, assesses risk, clusters requests, interrogates agents and acts as a security analyst to take action. Eve Security manages all the agentic activity between an AI agent and an organization’s most critical business systems – what the company calls the ‘crown jewels,’ systems that include financials, human resources, and sales systems. This ensures consistency, compliance and auditability, which are critical to industries like finance, healthcare, and security.
  • In-Depth Observability: Eve Security supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocols to securely access external tools, APIs, data sources and more. These protocols enable deep insights into AI agent interactions and agent-to-agent coordination and delegation chains.
  • Policy Enforcement: English-language-based policies create security blind spots in agentic AI due to issues with translation and cultural nuances. Eve Security’s platform is able to define and enforce policies that understand intent and data included in agentic requests. These are new capabilities not available in existing security products.
  • Frictionless Deployments: Customers can deploy Eve Security without new infrastructure or even a plug-in to get started, enabling net value on day one.

Eve Security is founded by CEO Nadav Cornberg, CRO Sharon Eilon and CTO Amit Eliav. Their depth of expertise in cybersecurity, AI and business growth makes them poised to solve one of the most pressing enterprise technology challenges of our time. The $3 million seed round will help the team continue to develop product features and its go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

For more information, please visit: https://www.eve.security/

About Eve Security
Eve Security is an agentic AI observability and policy enforcement platform that uses the industry’s first Agent-in-the-Loop (AITL) to ensure the security of AI agents interacting with a company’s most crucial business systems. Based in Austin, Texas, the company is backed by Live Oak Ventures and Tau Ventures and founded by industry veterans Nadav Cornberg, Sharon Eilon and Amit Eliav. 

About LiveOak Ventures
LiveOak Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Austin, Texas. With over 23 years of successful venture investing in Texas, the founders of LiveOak have helped create nearly $5 billion of enterprise value. While almost all of LiveOak’s investments begin in the early stages, LiveOak is a complete life cycle investor focused on technology and technology-enabled service companies. With nearly $500M under management, LiveOak has led investments in 60 high-growth Texas-based companies, including DISCO (NYSE: LAW), Eventus, AmplifAI, Homeward, SchooLinks, Take Command Health, and Osano. Recognized as the Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the inaugural A-List awards by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, LiveOak is dedicated to supporting local founders, fostering the next generation of leaders, and building category-dominating companies.

Media Contact
Ray George
650-922-3825
[email protected]

SOURCE Eve Security