Breakthrough investment showcases momentum of virtual fencing technology, as Nofence advances scalable, tech-driven grazing solutions for livestock management

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 16, 2025 — Nofence, the leading innovator in virtual fencing technology, announced today that it has raised over $35 million (€30 million) after the successful close of its Series B funding, which concluded in July. As Europe’s largest agtech funding round of 2025, this investment signals investor confidence in Nofence’s market traction, product innovation, and long-term potential to transform livestock management in the U.S. and worldwide.

The new capital is announced on the heels of the company’s recent hirings of Alex Bell as managing director in the U.S. and Eric Yates as national sales director. These investments were led by international firms with deep expertise in climate tech, agtech, and sustainable systems, including the lead investor European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, along with Capagro, Nysnø Climate Investments, Climate Innovation Capital, and Speedinvest – while existing investors Sandwater, Momentum, and Ferd are also continuing their commitment, reflecting strong support for Nofence’s role in providing more sustainable and efficient grazing solutions for cattle, sheep, and goat farmers alike.

As the pioneer of virtual fencing and the company with the longest experience in the field, the new funding will enable Nofence to accelerate its worldwide expansion in key North American and European markets. It underscores the company’s continued momentum in advancing its technology through further product development, strengthening service to its growing customer base, and reinforcing its position in core markets, including in the U.S. and E.U. Nofence recognizes the trust and support farmers and ranchers placed in its technology and is committed to using the new capital to further invest in enhancing its ability to serve them and deliver greater value. Nofence’s solar-powered, GPS-enabled collars managed via its easy-to-use mobile app are already helping thousands of farmers and ranchers improve land stewardship and reduce labor and production costs.

“Nofence’s virtual fencing is transforming the way livestock producers manage their herds by enabling rotational grazing – an effective climate measure in agriculture – while also offering more efficient solutions to better monitor and enhance the welfare of livestock, reduce costs, and provide peace of mind,” said Joachim Kähler, CEO of Nofence. “This Series B funding is more than a financial milestone; it further validates our vision and the real-world results we’ve delivered to farmers across the globe. This raise reflects the strength of our team, the loyalty of our customers, and the urgency of the challenges we’re helping to solve, positioning us to make virtual fencing the standard for livestock management globally.”

“Farmers and ranchers are looking for tools that give them greater flexibility and insight in how they manage their land and livestock, and Nofence’s virtual fencing technology is delivering for those needs,” said Alex Bell, U.S. Managing Director for Nofence. “With Nofence, our customers are able to work more efficiently and steward their land more sustainably. These investments mark a major step forward for Nofence in the U.S., expanding our reach and accelerating our ability to deliver even more value to our customers.”

“We are incredibly proud to announce our Series B funding round. This investment is a testament to the hard work of the entire Nofence team and the strength of our technology,” said Stefanie Witte, Chair of Nofence’s Board of Directors. “What’s particularly exciting for us is not just the capital, but the calibre and international breadth of our investors. They bring a range of expertise from across Europe and North America – perfectly aligned with Nofence’s own international expansion, and their experience will be an invaluable asset as Nofence continues to grow and innovate.”

“At ECBF, we back companies that scale commercially while driving sustainable, resource-efficient systems. Nofence is transforming livestock management with a solution that improves efficiency, lowers costs, while restoring soil and biodiversity,” highlighted Isabelle Laurencin, Partner at ECBF. “With strong traction in Europe and clear U.S. growth prospects, we are proud to back this ambitious team as they set a new standard for sustainable agriculture.”

“Nofence is addressing one of the most urgent needs in agriculture: making livestock management more efficient and climate-friendly. The company’s rapid adoption across multiple markets demonstrates both the strength of its technology and the depth of demand from farmers. Having backed Nofence since the Series A, Sandwater is proud to continue this partnership and build on the strong foundation already in place,” says Torkel Engeness, Partner at Sandwater.

“We have known Nofence for a long time and continue to be impressed by their execution across markets. With farm digitization still in its early stages, Nofence stands out as a key enabler, creating a strong platform for new products beyond virtual fencing,” emphasized Wissam Nasreddine, Principal at Speedinvest.

Since entering the U.S. market in 2025, Nofence has seen surging demand among American producers eager to improve grazing management without the constraints of physical fencing. As the world’s only provider of virtual fencing for both cattle and small ruminants, Nofence technology is helping American producers in 48 states manage their livestock more efficiently, all while saving time and money.

About Nofence and the technology
Founded in Norway in 2011 by goat farmer Oscar Hovde at Batnfjordsøra, Nofence is the world’s pioneer commercial virtual fencing system for livestock, serving as a sustainable alternative to physical fencing. The animals’ grazing areas are managed using a GPS collar, which communicates with an app using a mobile network. When the animals cross the virtual boundary, an escalating acoustic warning is played. If they ignore the sound, they will get a mild but effective electrical pulse. The animals learn this quickly in their training period of up to a week, depending on variables like the breed and the age of the animal. The collars can be bought online at nofence.co/us.

The company’s virtual fences have increased in popularity since its pilot customers first began using it in Norway in 2016, with the company surpassing 150,000 collars sold – a strong testament to the success of the new technology. Nofence has 90 employees worldwide, distributed between Norway, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and the United States.

About the Investors 
Capagro is Europe’s first independent venture capital fund dedicated to AgTech and FoodTech innovation. With approximately €240 million under management and backing from leading agrobusinesses and institutional LPs, Capagro supports startups across the entire agri-food value chain, accelerating the adoption of impactful technologies, from smart agriculture to sustainable food solutions.

Climate Innovation Capital (CIC) is a growth equity fund investing in mid-stage climate technology companies that deliver measurable decarbonization and strong financial performance. With deep operational and investment expertise, CIC targets solutions across key sectors like energy, buildings, transportation, and food systems. Its portfolio companies are reshaping industries by turning climate innovations into scalable, cost-competitive businesses.

European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) is the leading venture capital impact fund exclusively focused on the circular bioeconomy. With $350 million (€300 million) AUM, ECBF invests $2.3-11.6 million (€2–10 million) in high-potential growth-stage companies across sectors like agtech, food, industrial biotech, and biomaterials. The fund aims to help Europe transition to a climate-neutral, nature-aligned economy by 2050, in line with the European Environmental Goals.

Nysnø Climate Investments is a state-owned investment company that invests in companies and funds with technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nysnø has assets under management of NOK 5.4 billion and invests in renewable energy, digital technologies, resource efficiency, sustainable consumption, and the circular economy. The company is headquartered in Stavanger and is owned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries.

Speedinvest is one of Europe’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, with over €1 billion in assets under management. Its sector-focused teams and in-house experts provide founders with hands-on support across growth, operations, and business development. Speedinvest backs bold entrepreneurs across deep tech, fintech, climate tech, SaaS, and more.

Sandwater is a Nordic venture capital firm investing in early-stage growth companies in resource efficiency, energy transition and productivity and resilience. Sandwater was established in 2021 by a team with extensive industry experience.

Momentum is a Norwegian venture fund aiming to accelerate sustainability, efficiency, and resilience across energy, food/agriculture, and industry. Momentum typically invests at the seed stage and actively supports its portfolio companies through their growth stages.

Ferd is a family-owned Norwegian investment company committed to value-creating ownership across both businesses and financial assets. Ferd is invested in Nofence through Ferd Impact Investing, which invests in early-stage climate tech companies and funds that have the potential to deliver both a positive climate and environment impact and a solid risk-adjusted return.

Media Contact
Isabel Nieves – [email protected]

SOURCE Nofence

As AI speeds up coding, Metalbear’s mirrord enables developers to run local code in real cloud environments instantly, closing the gap between coding and deployment.

TEL AVIV, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025 — MetalBear, creator of the popular open source Kubernetes development solution mirrord, today announced it has raised $12.5 million in Seed funding led by TLV Partners with participation from TQ Ventures, MTF, and Netz Capital. Prominent angel investors include David Cramer, co-founder of Sentry, and Ben Sigelman, co-creator of OpenTelemetry. The funding comes as enterprises confront a paradox: while AI dramatically accelerates code creation, developers continue to waste valuable time waiting to test code in realistic cloud environments.

The rise of microservices architecture has transformed how modern software is built, with enterprises now managing hundreds or thousands of interconnected services. Yet this evolution has created a critical bottleneck: developers working on a single service cannot effectively test their code within the context of the larger application. They resort to incomplete local testing with mocks that don’t reflect real cloud conditions, then queue for hours and even days to access shared staging environments. Some organizations spend millions annually on per-developer cloud environments, only to find these still require deployment cycles and shift maintenance burdens onto individual developers, creating yet more bottlenecks.

“We’re witnessing a mismatch in modern development,” said Eyal Bukchin, CTO and co-founder of MetalBear. “AI can now generate code in seconds, but developers still face constant friction testing it. Every small change requires another deployment cycle, another wait, another context switch. These interruptions compound throughout the day, turning what should be rapid iteration into a stop-and-start marathon. The entire industry has accepted this as normal, but it’s actually the biggest hidden bottleneck in software development today.”

MetalBear’s mirrord fundamentally changes this dynamic by letting developers connect their local code directly to their cloud environments. With a single switch in their IDE, developers can instantly give their code access to remote databases, APIs, queues, and services without deploying anything. The technology works by injecting itself into the local development process and intercepting all input/output operations at a low level, seamlessly proxying them to the remote environment.

“The first-time developers use mirrord, they often can’t believe what they’re seeing,” said Aviram Hassan, CEO and co-founder of MetalBear. “They toggle a button in their IDE, hit debug, and suddenly their local code is interacting with other microservices, remote databases, message queues, and third-party services as if it were running in the cloud. We’ve even seen teams where mirrord lets them run their code locally for the first time. Before, there were just too many dependencies to run locally, so all they could do was deploy and hope.”

mirrord has already been adopted by thousands of developers at leading technology companies including NVIDIA, AWS, and Apple, with teams reporting 80% faster test iterations and 30% fewer production bugs. Its paid enterprise version enables multiple developers to work simultaneously on the same environment without conflicts, using traffic routing and queue splitting to ensure each developer only receives the data meant for their specific tests. This allows entire teams to share a single staging environment as if each developer had their own, eliminating both bottlenecks and costs.

“There’s intense focus on AI and developer productivity right now, but most solutions only address code generation,” said Brian Sack, Partner at TLV Partners. “As AI makes developers write code faster, testing and integration become the critical bottlenecks. When every AI agent needs their own test environment, traditional approaches become completely unscalable. mirrord’s architecture is uniquely positioned to enable this new era of development.”

mirrord’s approach leverages deep system-level expertise rarely seen in the DevOps space. The founding team has a deep expertise in cybersecurity, most recently as a core part of the leadership at BioCatch where they built behavioral analytics systems. This experience enabled them to build mirrord to handle complex enterprise environments, from air-gapped clusters to complex service meshes, without requiring cluster modifications or extensive setup.

About MetalBear

MetalBear is the creator of mirrord, an open source development solution that eliminates bottlenecks in cloud-native development by enabling local code to run in production-like conditions instantly. Founded by cybersecurity experts Aviram Hassan (CEO) and Eyal Bukchin (CTO), the company helps developers ship faster, more reliable software. With 25 employees across 14 countries, MetalBear serves thousands of developers at Fortune 100 enterprises and leading technology companies. mirrord is available as both an open source project and an enterprise solution that allows large teams to effectively share a single cloud development environment. Learn more at metalbear.com

Media Contact
Lazer Cohen
[email protected]

SOURCE MetalBear

This brings Chestnut’s total year-to-date funding to $250 million, one of the voluntary carbon market’s largest raises in 2025.

NEW YORK, Sept. 16, 2025 — Chestnut Carbon (“Chestnut”), a nature-based carbon removal developer, announced that it has raised $90 million in additional funds for its Series B financing. The incremental funding, from existing equity investor Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (“CPP Investments”), brings Chestnut’s total Series B funding to $250 million, up from the $160 million total that was announced earlier this year in which CPP Investments participated.

Chestnut also recently announced the successful closing of a landmark non-recourse project finance credit facility of up to $210 million—a first-of-its-kind bank financing for a U.S. voluntary carbon removal afforestation project.

Chestnut is focused on growing its U.S.-based afforestation projects which transform marginal crop and pasture lands into long-lasting, biodiverse ecosystems. These projects will generate Gold Standard® verified carbon credits, supporting companies committed to decarbonization and net zero goals.

“This additional investment in Chestnut exemplifies CPP Investments’ commitment to finding superior investment opportunities across the energy value chain,” said Bill Rogers, Head of Sustainable Energies at CPP Investments. “Our continued support of Chestnut and Kimmeridge’s pioneering work underscores our belief that high-quality, verifiable carbon removal projects will play a critical role in supporting global decarbonization goals while generating long-term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”

The equity capital raised will primarily fund two key areas: land purchases, which have already enabled the acquisition of over 60,000 acres across eight southern states; and technological innovation, including proprietary data tools and patented systems that enhance forest modeling and operational efficiency.

“We are grateful for the follow-on investment by CPP Investments, which along with the support we have received from other investors is critical to scaling Chestnut’s impact while maintaining our high standards for quality and permanence,” said Greg Adams, Chief Financial Officer of Chestnut. “We’re committed to helping our customers meet their decarbonization goals and ensuring that they can rely on us as their trusted partner in the process.”

About Chestnut Carbon
Chestnut Carbon (“Chestnut”) is a leading developer of nature-based carbon removal credits. Founded in 2022 with the support of energy-focused alternative asset manager Kimmeridge, Chestnut generates high-quality, U.S.-based forest carbon offsets that are additional and verifiable to accelerate the path to net zero across a range of industries. Chestnut uses a proprietary approach to developing forest carbon offset projects on family-owned forestland and marginal crop and pastureland. Chestnut’s expertise is driven by an experienced team, whose diverse backgrounds include forestry, carbon regulation, environment, finance and land management. For additional information on Chestnut, its strategies and environmental stewardship, please visit https://chestnutcarbon.com/.

SOURCE Chestnut Carbon

Funding to advance first-in-class pan-ROCK inhibitor through Phase 2a testing in PAH and ILD-PH patients

Topline data from ROC-101 Phase 1 study demonstrate favorable safety and tolerability, and no associated hypotension

Leadership team comprises executives from CinCor Pharma, acquired by AstraZeneca in 2023 for up to $1.8 billion

NATICK, Mass., Sept. 16, 2025 — AllRock Bio Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing therapies for cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, today announced a $50 million Series A round co-led by Versant Ventures and Westlake BioPartners. Proceeds will advance AllRock’s lead molecule, ROC-101, which the company exclusively licensed from Sanofi, into Phase 2 clinical development.

ROC-101 is a first-in-class, oral pan-rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension with interstitial lung disease (ILD-PH). Both are life-threatening conditions with five-year survival rates of 57% and 38%, respectively, and very limited disease-modifying treatments exist for these patients. ROC-101 has the potential to address a significant unmet need by targeting inflammatory, proliferative, and fibrotic disease-associated remodeling mediated by both ROCK2 and ROCK1.

“Today’s launch highlights the value of our pan-ROCK inhibitor approach, which addresses the fundamental drivers, not just the symptoms, of cardiopulmonary diseases, beginning with PAH and ILD-PH,” said Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBA, AllRock CEO and co-founder. “In identifying this asset, we listened to KOLs and clinicians who emphasized the importance of developing a therapy that blocks the non-redundant roles of both ROCK1 and ROCK2.”

ROC-101’s mechanism of action is complementary to existing approved and investigational therapies in the pulmonary hypertension space. AllRock’s Phase 2a ROCSTAR clinical trial will evaluate ROC-101 in combination with standard of care in PAH and ILD-PH patients and is expected to start in late 2025.

“We are pleased to work with this team again in the formation of AllRock following our past successful collaboration on CinCor and bringing baxdrostat to the clinic,” said David Allison, PhD, Managing Director at Westlake BioPartners. “We are confident that this team is poised to advance a truly meaningful therapeutic option to patients living with debilitating disease.”

“The strong safety profile that ROC-101 has demonstrated in Phase 1 validates the transformative potential of pan-ROCK inhibition,” said Alicia Levey, PhD, Venture Partner at Versant Ventures and AllRock board member. “We look forward to AllRock’s near-term readouts for ROC-101 as well as progress from its expanding pipeline.”

The company’s leadership comprises industry veterans from biotech and pharma with a track record of success in building and leading parent and portfolio companies:

Catherine Pearce, DHSc, MBA, CEO and Co-Founder, brings 25+ years of experience across pharma and biotech company formation, most notably for creating and leading the clinical-stage function of CinCor Pharma from its formation to its acquisition by AstraZeneca for up to $1.8 billion. She also co-founded CinRx Pharma and JucaBio.

Justin Thompson, CBO and Co-Founder, has 20+ years of experience in business development and strategic investments within life sciences. He led business development efforts at CinCor Pharma and co-founded JucaBio.

Bill Marshall, MD, CMO, is a clinician-scientist with 35+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, highlighted by his role as VP, Medical, at CinCor. He began his pharma career in Translational Pharmacology at Merck and served in leadership roles at Allovir and Alexion and as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the UMass Chan Medical School.

Kate Steiner, B Med Sci, MBBS, VP Medical, is a clinician-scientist with 25+ years of academic, clinical, and drug development experience, most recently as Medical Director at Keros Therapeutics, leading the Phase 2 trial of an activin receptor type II B ligand trap to treat pulmonary artery hypertension. She is also a part-time Pulmonary Critical Care Attending at Tufts Medical Center.

The company’s latest Phase 1 data will be presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress, held September 27-October 1 in Amsterdam, in a poster entitled, “Results from a phase 1, randomized, double-blind, single and multiple ascending oral dose study characterizing the PK, safety, and target engagement of the Rho kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor ROC-101 in healthy volunteers.”

AllRock was founded by JucaBio, a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company built on the hub-and-spoke model that acquires high-quality, differentiated assets and builds agile NewCos that execute focused drug development.

About PAH
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe condition characterized by elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries, impacting both the lungs and the right side of the heart. In PAH, the small pulmonary vessels undergo progressive narrowing, leading to elevated pulmonary arterial pressure. This heightened pressure impedes blood flow through the lungs, necessitating increased effort from the right ventricle to maintain adequate circulation, ultimately placing significant strain on the heart. Despite 16 approved drugs—including four vasodilator classes—there continues to exist an unmet need for disease-modifying treatments in the current landscape.

About ILD-PH
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD-PH) is a distinct form of PH where the blood pressure in the lungs increases in the setting of ILD. ILD encompasses a broad group of diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, that impair the structure of the lungs, making it progressively harder to breathe. ILD-PH is associated with increased mortality and morbidity with worsening symptoms over time, and very limited treatment options are available.

About AllRock Bio
AllRock Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing therapies for cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases. The company’s lead candidate, ROC-101, is a first-in-class, oral pan-ROCK inhibitor being developed to address the urgent unmet need in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and other life-threatening fibrotic diseases. With a seasoned leadership team and a commitment to addressing unmet need, AllRock is dedicated to bringing a new class of disease-modifying therapies to patients. For more information, please visit www.allrockbio.com. Follow us on Linkedin.

About Versant Ventures 
Versant Ventures is a leading healthcare venture capital firm committed to helping exceptional entrepreneurs build the next generation of great companies. The firm’s emphasis is on biotechnology companies that are discovering and developing novel therapeutics. With $5.3 billion under management and offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe, Versant has built a team with deep investment, operating and R&D expertise that enables a hands-on approach to company building. Since the firm’s founding in 1999, more than 95 Versant companies have achieved successful acquisitions or IPOs. For more information, please visit www.versantventures.com.

About Westlake BioPartners
Westlake BioPartners is a Los Angeles area-based venture capital firm focused on incubating and building early-stage life sciences companies with entrepreneurs who have the potential to bring transformative therapies to patients. With $1.3 billion under management, the Westlake model is built on the founding team’s unique experience in successfully identifying and developing breakthrough therapies and building organizations, based on their extensive R&D, investing and company-building experience. For more information, please visit www.westlakebio.com.

Media contact:
[email protected] 

SOURCE AllRock Bio

UNIONDALE, N.Y., Sept. 15, 2025 — The Lustgarten Foundation, the nation’s largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, today announced a landmark year of funding, awarding ten new grants to researchers at eight leading institutions. These new grants, totaling $13.85 million, support Lustgarten’s unique patient-centered mission which drives outcomes across three research pillars—early detection and interception, new drug development, and personalized medicine. With the addition of these new grants, the Lustgarten Foundation supports 51 active grants across 29 institutions. The Foundation concentrates on translating its understanding of the underlying biology of pancreatic cancer into clinical applications to change, extend, and ultimately save patients’ lives.

“Despite devastating federal cuts to cancer research, the Lustgarten Foundation remains the driving force behind pancreatic cancer science,” said Linda Tantawi, CEO of the Lustgarten Foundation. “We are advancing critical research with urgency and purpose—because patients don’t have the luxury of time. Through significant financial investment and thought leadership, we are empowering researchers and propelling science forward, toward a future where people with pancreatic cancer have more treatment options, better outcomes, and more precious time with their loved ones. There has never been a more hopeful time in pancreatic cancer research—and we are determined to turn that hope into real breakthroughs.”

Of the $13.85 million in new awards:

• 14% supports early detection and interception efforts, aiming to develop and deliver tools enabling early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer; develop and optimize biomarkers enabling early detection in the general population; develop approaches for risk assessment and management of high-risk groups.
• 66% supports new drug development projects, aiming to accelerate the development of therapies; identify novel drug targets based on an understanding of the biology of pancreatic cancer initiation and progression; accelerate preclinical and clinical testing of novel drugs and combinations in pancreatic cancer.
• 20% supports personalized medicine studies, aiming to implement a personalized medicine program; better characterize and understand the heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer; develop tools to guide treatment decisions matching the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.

These ten new grant commitments bring the Lustgarten Foundation’s total support in fiscal year 2025 to nearly $20 million to fuel cutting-edge pancreatic cancer research.

Advancing the Lustgarten Foundation’s commitment to funding early detection projects, Marcia Canto, MD, Director of Clinical Research, Division of Gastroenterology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was awarded a grant for her study “Artificial Intelligence-Augmented Early Detection and Prevention of Pancreatic Cancer.” Funding the development and delivery of tools to enable early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, including screening in the general population and approaches for risk assessment, management, and interception in high-risk groups will ultimately give patients and their families more help—and more hope—than ever before.

Lustgarten Foundation-AACR Career Development Awards Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Robert Lewis awarded to Anupriya Singhal, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, for her study “Interrogating vulnerabilities of a KRAS inhibitor-resistant cell state in pancreatic cancer,” and Vincent Bernard Pagan, MD, PhD, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, for his study “Targeting oncogenic metabolic adaptations to overcome therapy resistance in pancreatic cancer.” The awards support trailblazing investigators committed to increasing the understanding and treatment of

pancreatic cancer. These awards support career advancement and the development of promising talent in pancreatic cancer research, in honor of the lives and legacies of two iconic Americans lost to pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Robert F. Vizza Lustgarten Clinical Accelerator Initiative (CAI) grants awarded to Gregory Beatty, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine for his study “Combinatorial myeloid activation as immunotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer,” Dung Le, MD, Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for her study “NC410 and FOLFIRINOX in Combination with Anti-PD-1 with and without Anti-CTLA-4 for Treatment Naive Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer,” Kevin C. Soares, MD, Assistant Attending Surgeon of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) for his study “A Pilot Study of Neoadjuvant mFOLFIRINOX and ELI-002 7P with or without Anti-PD-1 Checkpoint Blockade in Borderline and Resectable Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma,” and Briane Boone, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cell Biology at West Virginia University for his study “Targeting myeloperoxidase to enhance chemotherapy response in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.” The CAI speeds the translation of basic research into the clinic by supporting novel, science-driven clinical trials. With three new trials added this year, there are now 12 trials supported through this innovative program. All the data from CAI trials will also be integrated into Lustgarten’s United Clinical Information Database (LUCID), improving the data’s collective potential while making it accessible to the broader research community.

Innovation and Collaboration Program grants awarded to Ronald Parchem, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine For his study, “Mechanisms Driving Tumor Innervation in Pancreatic Cancer,” and Massimiliano Mazzone, PhD, Group Leader at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology and Professor in the Department of Oncology at KU Leuven for his study “Unraveling the role of P2Y6+ macrophages in PDAC liver Metastasis.”

Lustgarten Equity, Accessibility, and Diversity (LEAD) Grant Program supports efforts to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in pancreatic cancer clinical trials. When clinical trials lack diversity, it can lead to inaccurate results, less effective—or even harmful—treatments for some populations, and a loss of trust in the medical system. It also hinders innovation and can cost billions in failed trials or limited market access. The supported projects are designed to identify and address barriers to participation and develop and implement specific tools to expand community outreach, patient education, and/or clinical recruitment staff. 

The 2025 LEAD grant ($426,975) was awarded to Nina Steele, PhD, University of Cincinnati, and Howard Crawford, PhD, Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center, for their project “Racial Disparities in Pancreatic Cancer.” This project will enable Drs. Steele and Crawford to develop tools that will allow researchers to better understand the complexity and heterogeneity of pancreatic cancer. Black African Americans are 20% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer and have worse survival outcomes compared to White patients, yet available research tools and databases typically do not include, or massively under-represent, Black African American patients. To advance the Lustgarten Foundation’s personalized medicine efforts, a grant was awarded to Howard Crawford, PhD, Scientific Director of the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center for his study “Mapping stromal evolution and immune suppression in the first racially diverse human pancreatic cancer spatial genome atlas.” Personalized (or precision) medicine is an important and evolving research area for pancreatic cancer, focusing on creating custom treatment strategies based on a patient’s unique genetic and tumor markers and mutations.

Through partnerships, the Lustgarten Foundation brings focus and strategy to pancreatic cancer research and maximizes our collective financial investment so we can fund the most high-risk, high-reward science. This year, leading cancer research experts convened for a workshop focused on Solving the Early Detection and Diagnosis of Recalcitrant Cancers. The event, jointly hosted by the Lustgarten Foundation, the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), showcased how partnership drives progress in addressing critical gaps in cancer research, particularly in early detection—a frontier that holds promising life-saving potential. As a direct outcome of the workshop, a new request for applications (RFA) was released, with funding for selected grants expected in fiscal year 2026.

“By breaking down silos and driving collaboration and information sharing, we are creating a culture of innovation and dedication to scientific rigor that is critical to solving the complexities of pancreatic cancer,” said Andrew Rakeman, Vice President of Research at the Lustgarten Foundation. “At the Lustgarten Foundation, and collaborative and science-driven strategy is fueling discoveries and advancing breakthroughs faster than ever before.”

To date, the Lustgarten Foundation has funded more than $301 million in research grants and has been a driving force in every major advancement in pancreatic cancer research since its inception in 1998.

About Lustgarten Foundation
The Lustgarten Foundation is the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research in the world, funding preeminent pancreatic cancer researchers, driving the pursuit of bold and innovative science toward earlier detection and better treatments, and transforming pancreatic cancer into a curable disease. The Foundation funds research where creative risks yield high rewards to accelerate and expand life-saving treatment options. We believe time is everything to patients and their families, and that community is power. Lustgarten programs and events provide people affected by pancreatic cancer a voice and a place to create hope, together. For more information about the Lustgarten Foundation, visit lustgarten.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

SOURCE Lustgarten Foundation

In its first year, Dyna released its breakthrough DYNA-1 foundation model, achieved a 99+% success rate in 24-hour non-stop operation, and proved commercial viability through customer deployments.

Dyna will use the latest funding round to expand its team, accelerate delivery of production-ready general purpose robots powered by proprietary embodied AI foundation models, and scale deployments across industries.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2025 — Dyna Robotics today announced it has closed a $120 million Series A funding round, led by Robostrategy, CRV, and First Round Capital, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Samsung Next, and LG Technology Ventures. The new capital will be used to expand its world-class research and engineering team and accelerate the development of its next-generation foundation model as the company works to deliver high performance general-purpose robots in commercial environments.

Dyna has made rapid progress since raising a $23.5 million seed round in March, including launching its DYNA-1 model, a breakthrough robotics foundation model that pushed the performance of robots to a 99+% success rate in 24 hours of non-stop operation. After just six months, Dyna’s robots were running sixteen hours a day at hotels, restaurants, laundromats, and gyms.

Dyna is the first to build a single-weight, general-purpose foundation model that can perform diverse daily tasks at commercial scale across varied environments. Its model has been deployed at multiple customer sites, supporting the model’s generalization commercial viability and continuing to learn and improve rapidly from on-the-job experience.

“A strong foundation model is key to scalable distribution,” said Lindon Gao, co-founder and CEO of Dyna Robotics. “Our models continuously improve with each customer deployment, generating high-quality data. We are observing true generalization as our robot enters new environments; it simply works out of the box, with no additional data.”

“Our first principle is to design robot foundation models that attain both generalization and performance,” said co-founder Jason Ma, a former DeepMind research scientist who has focused his career on developing foundation models for robotics. “Scalable real-world robot learning systems need to master and generalize many manipulation skills. To achieve the best performance on complex tasks, Dyna’s foundation models are developed to enable general world understanding while learning from the models’ own experience for rapid online learning.”

Dyna co-founders Lindon Gao and York Yang teamed up with Ma after seeing the potential to advance AI through real-world applications first-hand while building Caper AI, which combined software and hardware to bring AI-powered smart carts to retailers worldwide. Their product made rapid advancements as soon as it went into production, and the company exited in 2021 for $350 million.

By combining their experience creating practical, production-ready AI with deep research expertise and building a world-class team of researchers and operators, they are building embodied AI robots that are useful for businesses now, using that “on-the-job” experience to build toward physical AGI.

“Right now, three forces are colliding at once: AI breakthroughs are maturing, hardware is accelerating, and the demand for labor has never been higher. That convergence has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” said co-founder York Yang. “Dyna has made rapid progress over 12 months and we believe our ultimate goal, achieving physical AGI, is not far off.”

From the investors:

RoboStrategy

“Dyna’s team and mission bridges research excellence and real world commercial applications. The demand for robotic automation spans almost every industry, and we believe Dyna will be at the forefront in meeting it with their state of the art general-purpose robot foundation model. We’re thrilled to co-lead this Series A and support the team’s ambitious roadmap of driving mass adoption of general-purpose robots.”

— Andrew Kang, CEO, RoboStrategy

CRV

“Dyna Robotics is at the forefront of embodied AI, delivering foundation models that combine generalization and commercial-level performance. We invested in the company from day one and are excited to double down on leading Dyna’s Series A. Lindon, York, and Jason bring together the rare combination of proven entrepreneurial success, deep technical expertise, and the operational know-how to scale AI in the real world. We couldn’t be more excited to back the best team positioned to lead the physical AGI revolution.”

– Max Gazor, General Partner, CRV

First Round Capital

“At First Round, we back exceptional founders tackling massive problems, and Dyna Robotics checks every box. Their early results are remarkable. In just one year, Dyna has pushed the boundaries of embodied AI with unprecedented generalization and commercial-grade performance. We’re thrilled to lead their Seed and Series A to fuel Lindon, York, and Jason’s vision to power the future of the physical economy.”

– Bill Trenchard, Partner, First Round Capital

About Dyna Robotics

Dyna Robotics makes general-purpose robots powered by a proprietary embodied AI foundation model that generalizes and self-improves across varied environments with commercial-grade performance. Dyna’s robots have been deployed at customers across multiple industries. Dyna Robotics was founded by repeat founders Lindon Gao and York Yang, who sold Caper AI for $350 million, and former DeepMind research scientist Jason Ma. The company is backed by top investors, including CRV and First Round. Learn more at dyna.co.

SOURCE Dyna Robotics

With new funding, AtlasNova is scaling its mission to make every small business run like the world’s best enterprises.

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 15, 2025 — AtlasNova announced the close of a $2.3M seed round, fueling its mission to transform how small businesses operate through intelligent automation.

Small businesses are the heartbeat of the local community, yet owners are often buried under endless operational tasks – marketing, data analysis, scheduling, and setting strategy – while trying to keep the doors open. AtlasNova changes that by giving them the same caliber of automation and decision-making power that the world’s top enterprises rely on.

“Most restaurant owners will tell you the food is the easy part, it’s everything else that keeps them up at night,” said Michael Wohlert, Co-Founder and COO. “Our mission is simple: take those burdens off their plate so they can focus on what they do best.”

Unlike generic AI tools, AtlasNova fuses advanced automation with real industry expertise and proven playbooks. Instead of simply presenting dashboards, the platform turns raw data into recommended actions and executes them, automatically optimizing schedules, streamlining operations, and generating on-brand marketing campaigns. The result: higher margins, more efficient operations, and more time for owners to focus on creating unforgettable experiences for their guests.

“Generic AI lacks the context and nuance required to truly improve a business,” said Xing Wen, Co-Founder and CEO. “AtlasNova gives small business owners access to world class expertise and workflows in a way thats accessible, actionable, and customized for them.”

With the close of its seed round, AtlasNova is accelerating platform development and expanding its customer base, starting with restaurants and scaling across the broader SMB market.

AtlasNova is not just another software tool. It is a new operating system for small business.

For more information, visit: www.atlasnova.ai

AtlasNova is an AI platform automating small business operations

SOURCE AtlasNova

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2025 — uiAgent, the leading AI agent platform for accounting firms, today announced it has raised a $4.6 million seed round led by Marathon Management Partners, with participation from Rerail. As part of the investment, Chase Packard, Founding Partner at Marathon, will join uiAgent’s board of directors.

Built specifically for accounting firms, uiAgent provides an AI-agent automation platform that enables enterprise-grade, end-to-end automation in days—not quarters. The platform supports both on-premise and cloud deployments, and features a robust AI agent library covering critical workflows across Audit and Client Accounting Services (CAS).

Today, uiAgent powers automation for some of the world’s largest and most forward-thinking accounting firms, including many of the top 100 accounting firms in the US. Proven results across its customer base include:

• 80% reduction in manual data entry
• 25% faster monthly close
• 35% faster Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) audit completion
• 100% automation of journal entry creation

Lisa Cattie, Director at Kreischer Miller, explained that “the ability to customize agents is a major differentiator for uiAgent. Many platforms in this space are too rigid to meet the needs of our more complex clients, but uiAgent gives us the flexibility to operate beyond standardized systems. Working with Enes and his team has been energizing—they’re full of ideas that drive efficiency and turn our wishlist into reality.”

“Accounting is ripe for AI automation, driven by a shrinking labor force, high volumes of repetitive work, and siloed data stuck in outdated systems,” said Chase Packard of Marathon. “Enes and his team saw this coming and built a powerful platform to help firms adopt AI quickly, securely, and with measurable impact. In less than a year, they’ve achieved seven figures in ARR, are working with numerous top 100 firms, and are saving clients thousands of hours annually. We’re fortunate and thrilled to partner with them.”

Enes Witwit, CEO & Founder of uiAgent shares more about the opportunity. “The CPA industry is facing a critical skilled labor shortage. Accountants are working excessive hours, sacrificing work-life balance, and as a result, client response times are increasing, client satisfaction is declining, and the quality of deliverables is suffering. uiAgent was built to empower these accountants—not with complex, lengthy implementations, high setup costs, or data shared across multiple third-party providers—but with a fast, seamless solution delivered in a fully secure, private environment. We make AI accessible and effortless. CPAs are the backbone of the economy and therefore heroes who deserve to be treated as such.”

The new capital will be used to accelerate development and deployment of uiAgent’s automation agents across more top accounting firms and large enterprises.

About uiAgent

uiAgent is an AI automation platform helping accounting firms automate repetitive tasks across Client Accounting Services, Tax, and Audit. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Marathon Management Partners

Marathon Management Partners is a multi-stage investment firm backing founders defining new categories across software and fintech. Founded by Gokul Rajaram, Michael Gilroy, Chase Packard, and Alex Gorgoni, Marathon pairs deep operational experience with long-term capital, supporting companies from inception through scale. Marathon has offices in New York, Menlo Park, and Los Angeles.

SOURCE uiAgent

Funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners will accelerate Doctronic’s mission to give millions of Americans instant, affordable, and personalized healthcare

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2025 — Doctronic, the AI-native platform delivering fast, private, and personalized healthcare at scale, today announced a $20 million Series A round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Mantis VC, Seven Stars, and luminary angels across AI & healthcare including Dr. Fei-Fei Li, Jay Desai, and Scott Belsky.

The new funding will enable Doctronic to expand its services and accelerate its mission to provide more Americans with instant, affordable, and individualized healthcare — both directly to consumers and through emerging partnerships with payers and health systems.

“Doctronic is scaling at a pace that makes it clear the future of healthcare will be AI-driven,” said Faraz Fatemi, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. “What sets them apart is far more than just speed or convenience, but a fundamentally unique agentic architecture that pairs collective AI intelligence with real clinical oversight. That combination makes Doctronic the trusted front door for millions of patients and positions them to define what next-gen healthcare looks like in America.”

Founded by Dr. Adam Oskowitz and Matt Pavelle, Doctronic was built on the belief that generative AI can solve one of America’s most persistent healthcare challenges: timely access to quality care. The platform delivers personalized, anonymous health guidance in minutes and provides seamless access to licensed physicians via video visits for as little as $39 — often less than the cost of a typical co-pay.

“Whether you are in rural Montana or New York City, it still takes over three weeks to see a primary care doctor, and in many cases a lot more. With Doctronic, the average time to chat with our AI and see one of our clinicians is less than 20 minutes. We often have patients write to us after using the system for the first time with a mixture of both gratitude and disbelief that healthcare can be so easy,” noted Dr. Oskowitz.

Users can engage with Doctronic’s AI advisor 24/7 for free — receiving four potential explanations for their symptoms, a likelihood-based assessment, and a structured AI-generated plan of action, including a SOAP note to bring to a provider. Doctronic handles more than 50,000 weekly visits, has powered 15 million medical conversations to date to over 1 million unique users, and delivers care at a fraction of the traditional cost.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are turning to our AI platform every month and nearly half return within a week, demonstrating that patients want AI-based healthcare because it’s instant, personalized and affordable,” said Pavelle. “Lightspeed is the perfect partner to help us scale from 1 million to 100 million users and beyond. This funding will accelerate our ability to serve more Americans both through our direct-to-consumer channels and emerging business partnerships, while maintaining the security, personalization, and quality that defines Doctronic.”

Doctronic has already begun securing partnerships with payers and health systems. This fall Doctronic will start providing its AI native solution to over 100,000 patients through a partnership with Safe Harbor Health. “Our mission is to remove barriers to care while lowering costs for both employers and employees,” said Ryan Herlin, Co-Founder and CEO, Safe Harbor Health. “Partnering with Doctronic allows us to extend that mission by integrating advanced, AI-powered primary care into our TOTAL Wellness Program. Together, we’re delivering a new standard of accessible, preventive, and affordable healthcare.”

Unlike generalized AI assistant platforms, Doctronic operates on a collective intelligence framework. Multiple specialized agents engage in structured clinical reasoning, while licensed physicians oversee and refine decision-making over time. Each interaction enriches a proprietary dataset linking symptoms, outcomes, and evidence, continually improving the system’s precision and reliability. Last month, Doctronic published the first large-scale validation of an autonomous AI doctor which benchmarked at a 99.2% treatment alignment with medically licensed clinicians.

Doctronic’s growth comes at a critical moment. The U.S. healthcare system faces a projected shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034, leaving nearly one-third of adults without consistent access to primary care. Doctronic steps into this gap as a complementary force for physicians helping patients track symptoms, uncover insights, and access care more efficiently, while alleviating pressure on an overstretched system.

Doctronic is available nationwide and has already become a trusted tool for millions of people who need fast, reliable answers about their health. With this new funding, the company is scaling even faster to meet the demand of patients, providers, and partners alike to reach millions more Americans.

About Doctronic

Doctronic is an AI-powered health assistant designed to help individuals better understand their health and access high-quality care. Built on a collective intelligence architecture, Doctronic provides personalized, anonymous health insights and connects users to licensed providers instantly, affordably, and securely. It is not a substitute for licensed medical care. The company is headquartered in New York and available 24/7 across all 50 U.S. states.

For more information, please visit: https://www.doctronic.ai

About Lightspeed Venture Partners

Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in AI, Enterprise, Consumer, Health, and Fintech. Over the past 25 years, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally including Abridge, Affirm, Anthropic, Cato Networks, Epic Games, Glean, Mistral, Moveworks, Navan, Netskope, Rubrik, Snap, Wiz, and more. Lightspeed and its global team currently manage over $30B in AUM across the Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in the U.S., Europe, India, Israel, and Southeast Asia. www.lsvp.com

SOURCE Doctronic